World Champion Manisha Bhanwala recalls Asian Games heart break, sets her sights on LA Olympics

Rohit Mitra

New Delhi, Nov 2, October 30, 2026: Manisha Bhanwala became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a Gold medal at the Senior World Wrestling Championships that were held in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Jind resident achieved the feat barely days after the heart break of loosing out on a medal at the Aichi Nagoya Asian Games 2026.

The 29-year-old defeated USA’s A Elizabeth Nette of US 8-6 in the women’s 59 kg category in a closely contested final at the World championships.

Addressing press persons in an online interaction facilitated by Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Sunday a self assured Manisha said that she was confident of a victory even when she was trailing 1-6 “during our training sessions are coaches had trained for various situations, for example they would give us a scenario where we would have to win certain amount of points within 30 seconds, or not lose any point in the same space of time. I knew my strengths and was looking to employ them. So I did not feel any pressure and remained positive.” Manisha trains at Rohtak’s Chhotu Ram Akhada

Manisha, who had won gold medal at the 2025 Asian Championships in the 62 kg category recalled the disappointment of Aiche Nagoya Asian Games and how she put it behind her to emerge victorious at the prestigious world championships “I could not believe that I had not won a medal at the Asian Games, considering the hard work and effort me and my coaches had put in, so I worked on my short comings during the 10 day gap between the Asian Games and the World Championships. During the weigh in at the finals I could feel that I will win a medal.”

She informed that going forward she would be competing in the 57 kg category with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics in mind

“Ranking series for the Olympics will start in 2027, there will be a total of four ranking series next year, I will be participating in the 57 kg category as 59 kg is not a category in the Olympics.”

She thanked the Union government for the support she is receiving under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme(TOPS) “I have been a TOPS athlete since 2024, under the scheme we recieve a pocket money which is very helpful as we are not able to afford everything through our personal means. The most helpful aspect is the foreign exposure tours, we are able to train with foreign athletes which boosts our confidence.”

She said that she started wrestling, initially for fitness but eventually became very serious about the sport “my father got me started in wrestling as I was not very fit, but when I started seeing other wrestlers and got to know about competitions like Olympics, world championships, I got interested and serious, I thought that if they can win, then why I can’t do it.”She picked world number 2 Belorussian tennis player Aryna Sabalenkana and Indian wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Pooja Dhanda as her inspirations

“Sushil pehelwan, through his hard work made a breakthrough for Indian wrestling, Pooja(Dhanda) didi was known for her comeback victories, similarly I have been following (Aryna) Sabalenkana since 2022. I believe that by throughly following icons such as these you can also become an icon.”

Manisha picked the underhook as her strong point and vowed to improve it further “I am well known for my underhook, it has paid me dividends, so I will like to strengthen it further going forward.”Apart from wrestling, Manisha, also loves reading and is interested in painting “I feel reading sharpens the mind and I like to read and also write, I maintain a diary, like to paint a bit as well.”

Manisha is a big practitioner of manifestation techniques, as she displayed her collection of books and her personal diary, all the books were signed ‘World Champion Manisha’

She picked ‘Manifestation’ by Roxie Nafousi as her favourite book.Manisha dedicated her achievements to her late father, who she said was her biggest motivator and supporter.