Antim Panghal vows to skip jalebi as she targets Asian Games gold in Aichi-Nagoya
On 15 September 2026, Indian wrestler Antim Panghal said she will focus on winning gold at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya and has vowed not to eat her favourite sweet until after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The 22-year-old told Times Now that she has not had jalebi for three years and plans to wait until 2028 to eat it: “I have not had it for three years now. I will eat it in 2028 (after LA28). I really want to eat it. But I will not eat it now. Whenever I go home, my mother prepares Kadhi and Churma for me.” Her immediate assignment is the Asian Games, while her longer-term objective is an Olympic medal in Los Angeles.
Panghal will compete in the 53kg category in Japan and aims to better the bronze she won at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. Reflecting on her development, she said: “I will give my 100 per cent. Last time, I was a junior. But this time, I have to compete as a senior.”
She earned her place on India’s Asian Games team after defeating Meenakshi Goyat in the 53kg selection bout in New Delhi; Goyat had earlier beaten Vinesh Phogat in the semi-final before Panghal ended her run. Panghal warned of strong opposition in Japan, saying: “We will do our best. But most of the challenges will come from Japan, China and North Korea.”
Looking beyond Aichi-Nagoya, Panghal identified the World Championships in October as a key event ahead of the Olympic qualification cycle that starts in February 2027. “I have to qualify for the Olympics next year. I have to give my best in the World Championships,” she said.
Her preparations have included time training at Nippon University in Japan last year and extra sessions at the national camp in New Delhi, where she has been working on attacks and counters. Japanese coach Kosei Akaishi, a two-time Olympic medallist, has been assisting her attacking work, and chief women's coach Virender Dahiya has expressed belief in her potential to win gold in Japan and beyond.
Panghal began wrestling in 2017 after encouragement from her elder sister in Bhagana village in Haryana’s Hisar district, competing in local dangals as a child. She was the first Indian woman to win back-to-back U20 World Championship titles in 2022 and 2023, has senior World Championships bronze medals from 2023 and 2025, and took an Asian Games bronze in Hangzhou.
Her family has supported her career, with her father Ram Niwas Panghal once renting a house in Hisar so she could travel roughly 20 kilometres each way to training; he told India Today: “She wakes up at 4 am. She practices twice a day, and she has never once complained.”
Panghal’s immediate schedule places the World Championships in October as the next major test, followed by the start of Olympic qualification in February 2027 as the decisive phase on her path to Los Angeles.