India’s Asian Games-bound grappler Manisha Bhanwala and Neha Sangwan won gold medals in the women’s 57kg and 59kg freestyle categories, respectively, at the Ulaanbaatar Open 2026 wrestling tournament in Mongolia on Friday.
Manisha Bhanwala, a former Asian champion in the 62kg division, defeated World Championships silver medallist Son Il-Sim of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea via pinfall in the 57kg final.
This was Manisha’s second Ranking Series gold of the year after the Zagreb Open. She pinned Son Il-Sim in just under four minutes in the gold medal match.
The Indian wrestler had defeated Elvira Suleyman Kamaloğlu of Turkiye in the semi-finals earlier.
Meanwhile, Neha Sangwan defeated North Korea’s Pyol Hong 5-3 in the final of the 59kg category for her second straight gold medal at the Ulaanbatar Open. The Indian won the 57kg division in Mongolia last year.
A former U17 world champion, Neha won five bouts to claim her second Ranking Series medal this year. She had claimed silver at Muhamet Melo in February.
Neelam, meanwhile, settled for a bronze medal in the 50kg category after defeating Maral Tangirbergenova of Kazakhstan 10-0 by technical superiority. She had earlier lost to the People’s Republic of China’s Anki Bao in the semi-finals.
In the women’s 53kg division, Meenakshi Goyat fell short of a podium after she was ousted in the repechage rounds by local grappler Tsogt-Ochiryn Namuuntsetseg.
Harshita failed to earn herself a medal shot in the 72kg division.
Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers also added to their tally earlier, with Sahil winning a bronze medal in the 60kg category after compatriot Sumit Dalal, who won the Asian Games trials earlier this month, pulled out of the bronze medal match with an injury.
Both Sumit and Sahil had lost to the eventual champion – the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ali Ahmadi Vafa in the semis and quarters, respectively.
Joginder Rathee fell one win short of the podium as he lost to Kazakh wrestler Olzhas Syrlybay in the 130kg Greco-Roman bronze medal match. Sunny Kumar failed to make a medal match in the 63kg division.
Asian Games-bound Sunil Kumar and Nitesh Kumar had won gold medals in the Greco-Roman 87kg and 97kg categories, respectively, in Mongolia on Wednesday.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/ulaanbaatar-open-2026-wrestling-india-day-2-results
