Manisha Bhanwala reaches 59kg final at World Championships after 10-0 semi win in Astana
Manisha Bhanwala, 29, reached the women's 59kg final at the World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday, pinning home favourite Altyn Shagayeva 10-0 in the semi-final and moving one win away from a potential historic gold for India.
Her victory made Manisha the third Indian woman to reach a final at this edition of the championships, following Kajal Dhochak and Neelam Sirohi, and the fourth Indian woman ever to contest a World Championships final. Both Kajal, 18, and Neelam, 26, had settled for silver on Wednesday after losing their title bouts — Kajal to Ukraine’s Anastasiya Alpyeyeva in the 76kg final and Neelam to Japan’s Yui Susaki in the 50kg final — giving India two women’s finalists at the same edition for the first time.
Manisha produced a series of controlled performances en route to the semi-final. She defeated Canada’s Laurence Beauregard 6-2 in the pre-quarter-finals and followed that with a 6-0 quarter-final win over Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu to set up the clash with Shagayeva.
The semi-final proved the most decisive of Manisha’s day: competing against the home favourite and in front of a partisan crowd, she secured victory by fall to seal her place in the gold-medal bout with the 10-0 result.
This season has included a change of weight class for Manisha. She competed in the women’s 57kg event at the 2026 Asian Games, making her debut at that continental event, where her campaign ended in the quarter-finals against Akari Fujinami, the Paris Olympics gold medallist, and she did not receive a repechage opportunity.
Manisha’s recent form also builds on last year’s success: she won gold in the women’s 62kg category at the Asian Championships in Amman. Her wrestling journey began in 2013 when her father sent her to a training camp to improve fitness; what started as a fitness measure developed into a competitive career.
She has said the early years brought pressure and self-doubt but that she became mentally stronger from 2021 onwards, learning to persevere through injuries and setbacks. Support from the Inspire Institute of Sport, where she has trained for a considerable part of her career, and assistance from India’s training camps and Japanese coach Kosei Akaishi have been credited by her for technical improvement and adapting across weight categories.
Manisha will face Abigail Nette of the United States in Friday’s final, where a victory would make her India’s first-ever women’s world champion.