Manisha (Photo UWW)
After two failed attempts to get its first-ever world champion at 2026 World Wrestling Championships in Astana, India finally got it’s historic gold medal as Manisha won gold medal at the 59kg.
Manisha achieved the historic result in incredible manner, coming back from 6-0 deficit against America Abigail Nette in the final, and winning 8-6 for the gold medal.
“Can’t feel anything. I’ve been waiting for a long time for this moment,” Manisha said. “From 2022 I’ve been writing that I would be world champion. This was my dream that I would be the first Indian woman to become a world champion. Today that dream has come true. I want to continue with this dream.”
Earlier in the World Championships, Neelam at 50kg and Kajal at 76kg, tried to become world champions but both fell short in the finals. Anshu was the first Indian to reach a world final in Women’s Wrestling when she did that in 2021.
“When Kajal made the final, everyone was saying that she’s winning a gold. Easy gold,” she said. “But I think maybe god wanted to make me the first champion. Maybe this is the reward of my tapasya. For me wrestling is like worship. The way I feel about my father. That’s how I feel about wrestling.”
Meanwhile, Everest Leydecker of the USA provided the victory that eventually gave the United States the team title, scoring a 2-point defensive exposure in the second period of the 55kg final that clinched a 4-1 win over Nataliia Klivchutska of Ukraine.
The USA finished with 137 points, two points ahead of Japan which had 135 points. China was third with 121 points. This is the US. first-ever team title in Women’s Wrestling since 1999.
“It just makes it even better knowing that that win pushed Team USA to the team title,” Leydecker said. “I was keeping track of it. I was like, OK, one more win and we secure it. And then Japan won the bronze-medal match and they were in the lead. But knowing that me winning clinched the title, it’s just crazy.”
Wrestling in the 59kg final, Manisha got dumped for four points by Nette but India challenged that call only to lose and give another point to Nette who now led 5-0. A caution against Manisha extended Nette’s lead to 6-0. But Manisha got a stepout before the break to get one point on board.
But Manisha then mounted a comeback first with a takedown against Nette which the United States challenged saying that the referee whistled to stop the bout. The challenge was lost, giving one more point to Manisha and position in par terre.
From 6-4, Manisha managed to make to turn Nette using a gut-wrench for two points and tried holding Nette for the fall but failed to do so.
“Bharandaaj [gut-wrench] is my favorite move,” she said. “It’s been my favourite for some time now. When I got that move, I felt I was going to get to 10 points just like that or even pin her. But she got out of that position. At that time I thought, how did that happen? Then when the bout restarted I got her down.”
Nette then went on trying to defend her 6-6 criteria lead but Manisha scored a pressure takedown and took a 8-6 lead that she defended to win a historic gold medal.
“I think that’s my strong point,” she said. |If anyone comes to the red zone, I can finish that shot. No matter who it is. When I get them to that red zone then I always finish that shot.”
Manisha is second world champion for India in wrestling after Sushil Kumar, who won the 66kg gold medal at the 2010 World Championships.
“I made my first senior team in 2022. I follow Sushil. I follow Sadulaev and Yazdani. I wanted to experience what this belt was. I just wanted to win a belt,” she said.
Another reason for former Asian champion Manisha to be emotional after the being the world champion was completing her late father’s wish of winning the gold medal. She even carried a photo of her father to the final and celebrated later.
“I’ve always been my father’s favourite,” she said. “We are two sisters and a brother but I think my father loved me the most. The first time I went to a hostel, I would always think I heard his voice. Like he was calling me. I don’t think I’ve have that connection. I always hear his voice. I can’t explain it. It’s like he is inside me and talks to me.”
Manisha now wants to repeat as the world champion next year in Las Vegas but in the Olympic weight category 57kg and wants more Indian wrestlers to win gold now that the barrier has been broken.
“Next year is very important,” she said. “I will try my best to win the world belt in 57kg. I think next time Indian girls won’t be scared when they get to the final or come under pressure whether they win a medal or not. I think their mind will relax now. Hope has come in.”
Leydecker Wins Gold on Debut
At 55kg, Leydecker, last year’s world U20 champion, gained an activity point the first period, then Klivchutska and her each received one to leave the U.S. wrestler up 2-1. As Klivchutska put the pressure on, Leydecker responded by gaining the match-clinching tilt.
The win came after Leydecker ended up with a bronze medal at the U23 World Championships in Last Vegas, United States two weeks ago. The loss to Gerda TEREK (HUN) in Las Vegas was Leydecker’s first in international wrestling.
“It’s crazy. I feel I should have been talking to you two weeks ago,” Leydecker said. “It was so bittersweet. I wanted the U23 gold. I just got caught. I knew I was the best in the world. It’s just so surreal knowing that I’m just 19 years old, I still have another U20. I want to be able to do all three in one year. I still have next year to do that.”
In the bronze medal matches, both Ekaterina Verbina of Russia and Nagisa Harada of Japan won one-sided affairs that did not go the distance.
Verbina added to her silver medal from last year when she went on a second-period splurge to defeat Tuba Demir of Turkiye 11-0 with 37 seconds to spare.
Nagisa built up an 8-0 lead in the first period against Anastasia Blayvas of Germany before whizzering her over to record a fall at 4:11.
At 59kg, European champion Mariia VYNNYK (UKR) picked up her second straight world medal with a dramatic 7-6 victory over Svetlana LIPATOVA (RUS) at 59kg.
Vynnyk, the silver medalist a year ago, was holding a 4-2 lead in the second period when European bronze medalist Lipatova reached back and flung Vynnyk to the mat for 4. Vynnyk reversed after hitting, cutting the gap to 6-5.
Vynnyk then secured a defensive exposure for 2, then held on for the victory.
Bolortuya KHURELKHUU (MGL) used an arm bar to turn over Altyn Shagayeva of Kazakhstan, building up an 8-0 lead before securing a fall just inside the 3-minute mark for her first senior world medal.
Snyder fends off Yoshida for fifth World Championships gold
Kyle Snyder of the USA ended up as the survivor of the arduous gauntlet that was the Freestyle 97kg division at the World Championships. Just barely.
Snyder fended off a fierce challenge from rising star Arash Yoshida of Japan, scoring two takedowns in the final minute for a dramatic 4-4 victory in the final on Friday in Astana to successfully defend his title and take home a fifth career gold overall.
“The end of that match was crazy,” Snyder said. “I can’t believe it honestly.”
Snyder’s victory somewhat overshadowed a remarkable triumph by young teammate Bo Bassett, who won the 65kg gold in the other Freestyle final, two weeks after failing to even medal at the World U23 Championships in Las Vegas.
The 97kg final was always going to be the marquee event of these championships. The question was: which of the four current or past Olympic champions, or whom among the bevy of world champions and medalists, would still be around to compete for the gold?
In the end it came down to the experienced 30-year-old Snyder and the powerful but wily 22-year-old Yoshida.
Snyder scored the second of two second-period takedowns with 18 seconds left to snatch the victory from the young Japanese before a raucous crowd at Astana’s Barys Arena and add to the golds he won in 2015, 2017, 2022 and 2025.
By making the final in one of the deepest weight classes ever seen at a World Championships, Snyder also raised his collection of world medals to nine overall — not to mention his 2016 Olympic gold and 2021 Olympic silver.
The victory was the Snyder’s second in three career meetings over two years against Yoshida. Snyder soundly defeated the 22-year-old Japanese in the semifinals at last year’s World Championships in Zagreb after losing to him earlier in the year at the Tirana Ranking Series.
Yoshida, who earned a bronze in Zagreb, appeared to be on the road to revenge on Friday when he took a 4-0 lead into the final minute, scoring an activity point and two stepouts, often by outmaneuvering the veteran Snyder. Yoshida’s fourth point came on an unsuccessful challenge by the U.S. to gain a stepout after a hardy exchange at the edge.
“I was getting my butt kicked,” Snyder said. “He was controlling the tie[-up] and pushing me around and I was up out of my stance. It was not good for 5 minutes and 10 seconds.
“They say you have to finish the race, you can’t just start it.”
Snyder began his comeback with a single-leg trip that sent Yoshida sprawling to the mat and came dangerously close to being a 4-pointer. Still down by 2, Snyder used a snap down to spin behind and secure the winning points.
“It was shameful. I didn’t do well finishing off my takedowns,” a disappointed Yoshida said. “Everything is ruined by the final match.”
Snyder’s victory kept Yoshida, who was born and raised in Japan to an Iranian father and Japanese mother, from becoming Japan’s heaviest gold medalist at a global championships.
That mark remains at 74kg — achieved by Kota Takahashi at last year’s World Championships and Jiichiro Date at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, both in Freestyle.
Yazdani, Sadulaev Add to Star-Studded Podium
Just to get to the final, Yoshida and Snyder both had to defeat Olympic champion rivals who had previously notched wins over them.
In Yoshida’s case, he scored a dramatic come-from-behind fall over Akhmed Tazhudinov of Bahraina after first knocking off another former Olympic champion in Hassan Yazdani of Iran. Snyder ousted longtime rival Abdulrashid Sadulaev of Russia.
Both Sadulaev and Yazdani ended up taking the bronze medals; ironically by the same 5-0 score in near carbon-copy matches. They posed together for photos afterwards.
Sadulaev, facing Zbigniew Baranowski of Poland, took a 3-0 lead in the first period with an activity point and a single-leg takedown, then added another activity point and a stepout in the second.
Sadulaev said his preparations were set back by a recent knee injury, which showed when he visibly tired during his quarterfinal loss to Snyder.
“I was doing just fine, but the injury threw me off track a bit,” Sadulaev said. “I think I fell a bit short on competitions and physical preparation.”
The victory gave Sadulaev, a six-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist, his eighth world medal and first bronze. In fact, it was his first bronze in any international competition since the 2013 Golden Grand Prix in Baku.
For the record, Sadulaev officially has a fifth-place finish from the 2023 World Championships, in which he lost by injury default in the semifinals to Tazhudinov while trailing 9-2, then defaulted what would have been bronze-medal match with Snyder.
“We’ll do everything we can to get a seventh gold medal next year,” Sadulaev said.
Yazdani, who moved up 97kg this year after dominating at both 74kg and 86kg, used his power to add four stepouts to an activity point to defeat Tazhunidov.
The victory gave the 31-year-old Yazdani the eighth world medal of his career dating back to 2015, which includes three world titles, with one gold and two silvers at the Olympics.
Snyder said he was honored to share the podium with those two.
“They’re just monsters,” Snyder said. “They inspired me in many, many ways. They are a huge part of my life. They’re my friends, too.”
Bassett Overwhelms Tevanyan
At 65kg, Bassett’s relentless and feverish pace proved too much for 2023 world bronze medalist Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia as the 20-year-old motored his way to the senior title with an impressive 9-1 victory.
Bassett broke open a close match with seven unanswered points in the second period to add to the world U20 title that he won in August. He also has world U17 gold from 2021.
“I think it comes down to all the years of hard work,” Bassett said. “I’m young for the senior-level division, this is my third World Championships of this summer and fall, so lots of competitions, lot of learning lessons, ups and downs.
“It’s a dream come true, and I just never thought I couldn’t.”
Bassett’s self-described “machine-gun” style extricated him from an early predicament. Tevanyan was on the verge of locking Bassett in a cradle when the U.S. wrestler managed to limit the damage to a stepout.
“Cradles are folkstyle, so I spend a lot with cradles, defending them in the room with all my stud partners and trying to hit them offensively, so I’m very comfortable there,” Bassett said. “And one [point] was the best-case scenario at that point. I didn’t want to give up anything else in that dangerous situation, but I made him wrestle and a lot of energy was used on his part.”
That expending of energy trying to keep up with ever-moving Bassett gradually and noticeably took a toll on Tevanyan, who surrendered a takedown to Bassett with two seconds left in the second period.
Bassett relentlessly keep the pressure on and deked and swooped this way and that to chalk up three takedowns. As perhaps a sign of Tevanyan’s frustration trying to keep up, he was assessed a 1-point penalty point for a head slap.
“That’s where I like to get my opponents to, I want to get them to that point,” Bassett said about tiring them out. “It’s very hard, it’s a style that’s very demanding. But I think the fans enjoy it. The fans were loud and they love good, intense wrestling, action, and lot of pace and pressure. I’ll always going to wrestle that way, machine-gun mindset.”
Bassett’s path to the final was made somewhat smoother when two opponents, who may have matched his style better than the 28-year-old Tevanyan, were eliminated in razor-close quarterfinals.
Defending champion Rahman Amouzad of Iran was assessed a controversial one-point penalty with four seconds left that gave Tevanyan a 3-2 victory, while Asian champion Sujeet of India fell 3-3 on a late takedown to Abdulmazhid Kudiev of Tajikistan.
Amouzad came through the repechage to defeat Shamil Mamedov of Bulgaria for one of the 65kg bronzes, scoring three stepouts before getting 2 with a counterlift during a late scramble to win 5-4.
Abasgadzhi Magomedov of Russia took home the other 65kg bronze with a nail-biting 3-2 over Kudiev, who in 2024 became just the second Tajikstan wrestler to win a world medal when he took a bronze at 70kg.
Magomedov was leading 2-0 when, in the final seconds, Kudiev hit a counterlift for two, only for Magomedov a reverse at the buzzer. There was no challenge.
RESULTS
FREESTYLE
61kg (27 entries)
SF 1: Zavur UGUEV (RUS) df. Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB), 3-0
SF 2: Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) df. Assyl AITAKYN (KAZ), 3-1
65kg (32 entries)
GOLD: Bo BASSETT (USA) df. Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM), 9-1
BRONZE: Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) df. Shamil MAMEDOV (BUL), 5-4
BRONZE: Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (RUS) df. Abdulmazhid KUDIEV (TJK), 3-2
70kg (24 entries)
SF 1: Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (RUS) df. Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL), 3-2
SF 2: Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ) df. Zain RETHERFORD (USA), 3-2
86kg (41 entries)
SF 1: Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) df. Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO), 9-1
SF 2: Kyle DAKE (USA) df. Ibragim KADIEV (RUS), 6-3
97kg (29 entries)
GOLD: Kyle SNYDER (USA) df. Arash YOSHIDA (JPN), 4-4
BRONZE: Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) df. Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL), 5-0
BRONZE: Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) df. Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), 5-0
125kg (30 entries)
SF 1: Abdulla KURBANOV (RUS) df. Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE), 5-0
SF 2: Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) df. Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA) by TS, 10-0, 3:53
WOMEN’S
55kg (17 entries)
GOLD: Everest LEYDECKER (USA) df. Nataliia KLIVCHUTSKA (UKR), 4-1
BRONZE: Ekaterina VERBINA (RUS) df. Tuba DEMIR (TUR) by TS, 11-0, 5:23
BRONZE: Nagisa HARADA (JPN) df. Anastasia BLAYVAS (GER) by Fall, 4:11 (10-0)
59kg (18 entries)
GOLD: MANISHA (IND) df. Abigail NETTE (USA), 8-6
BRONZE: Mariia VYNNYK (UKR) df. Svetlana LIPATOVA (RUS), 7-6
BRONZE: Bolortuya KHURELKHUU (MGL) df. Altyn SHAGAYEVA (KAZ) by fall, 2:59 (8-0)
