• Source:JND
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India's Antim Panghal clinched the Bronze medal and also secured an Olympic quota for India after beating Emma Malmgren at the World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on Thursday.

In the 53kg freestyle fixture, She got the better of the Swedish international 16 - 6 for a victory by Technical Superiority.

Antim took an early and promising 5-0 lead before Malmgren made a comeback by locking her in a double armbar to make it 5-2 and then a leg hold to make it 5-4. Both the players were competitive enough as the exciting opening round ended 6-6.

Antim kicked off the second round with the same attacking approach as she did in the first round. She rolled her opponent for four quick points before closing out the game for the big win.

Malmgren wasn't an easy opponent to defeat as she had won the U23 European Championships this year and the senior European Championships too. However, In last year's Worlds Malmgren was beaten by another Indian in the bronze medal bout, Vinesh Phogat.

Notably, Antim was competing under a neutral flag due to the suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India by the world body. The quota she's won, though, will go to India.

She made a huge statement by a massive victory in the first round of the event, having defeated reigning world champion Dominique Olivia Parrish of the USA 3-2 (a victory by points with technical points).

Talking about that match, Antim, recovered from 0-2 down with a takedown to make it 2-2 before winning after Parrish lost a point for passivity.

The 19-year-old Indian wrestler then beat Poland's Roksana Marta Zasina 10-0 (a victory by technical superiority) in the pre-quarters and then Russia's Natalia Malysheva 9-6 (a victory by points with technical points) in the quarterfinals.

In the all-important semifinal clash, she lost to Kaladzinskaya, the wrestler who had defeated Vinesh in the Tokyo Olympics. The category was eventually won by the division's most dominant wrestler, Akari Fujinami of Japan.

Apart from Antim, no other Indian made it past the quarterfinal stage across categories.