Manisha Bhanwala ends India’s wait with 59kg world title in Astana
Manisha Bhanwala defeated American Abigail Nette to win the 59kg freestyle gold at the World Wrestling Championships in Astana on October 31, 2026, becoming the first Indian woman to claim a world wrestling title. The 29-year-old’s victory is only the second senior world crown for India after Sushil Kumar’s 2010 men’s 66kg freestyle title.
Bhanwala, who hails from Jind in Haryana, began wrestling after her father enrolled her in a hostel when she was judged unfit, and she watched senior athletes win medals as her ambition grew. She struggled to make an impact at junior and sub-junior levels before deciding to focus on senior competition, and she returned frustrated and empty-handed from Japan earlier this year despite expecting a medal.
Her father, Suresh Bhanwala, who died in 2022, was a central influence on her career; she wore a special T-shirt in his memory before the World Championships final and has kept a photograph of him with her for the past four years. “I’m from a small village. A very simple family. My father sahab was the one who encouraged me to become a wrestler. He always believed I would be the best. He believed in me when others didn’t,” she told Sportstar.
Manisha’s family background includes sport across generations: her brother Rinku plays kabaddi and her sister-in-law Mamta Sihag is a wrestler, and Rinku described how watching him play in the village prompted her to take up sport. “We all played sports in the family. She used to watch me play kabaddi in the village and that inspired her. We then decided that she should take up an individual sport rather than a team game. She was physically strong and mental toughness was always her biggest strength,” Rinku told PTI.
Rinku also recalled the difficult decision that followed their father’s death on the morning Manisha was due to travel to Mongolia: “She was preparing to leave, but our father passed away that very morning. He had attended a jagran and died in his sleep. She was so attached to all of us that she did not want to go. We had to tell her that all the efforts our father had made to make her a wrestling champion would go to waste if she gave up. We somehow convinced her to board the flight to Mongolia,” he recalled. Manisha competed at that tournament and returned with a bronze, and she went on to win three more Asian medals, including a gold last year.
India’s women produced an unprecedented World Championships campaign with three wrestlers in gold-medal matches for the first time; Neelam Sirohi (50kg) and Kajal Dhochak (76kg) took silver on October 29, 2026, and Bhanwala ensured the team left Astana with a gold. In the 59kg final Nette opened aggressively with a right-leg attack and a lift that led to a four-point score, and after a period of control by the American the contest moved on.
During the match Bhanwala was handed a caution that took the score to 6-0 in Nette’s favour before she secured a push-out point to close the first period. When Nette launched another leg attack Bhanwala slipped behind to complete a takedown; the American corner challenged, arguing the referee had stopped the action, but the review was lost and Manisha was awarded the additional point.
Bhanwala has said she draws strength from her father’s memory and has set her sights on a 57kg category medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as her next major target.