Hansika Lamba won the silver medal in the women’s 55kg event at the Polyák Imre, Varga János & Kozma István Memorial 2026 wrestling tournament, also referred to as the Budapest Ranking Series, in Hungary on Thursday.
The 19-year-old Hansika Lamba lost to Ukraine’s Nataliia Klivchutska, a former junior European champion, 5-0 in the final to settle for the second step on the podium in the women’s freestyle category.
Hansika Lamba began her campaign with an 8-4 win over Turkiye’s Tuba Demir in the quarter-finals before defeating Anastasia Blayvas of Germany 10-7 after coming from behind in her semi-final bout.
The Indian wrestler has been in terrific form this year, having won bronze medals at the Asian Championships and the Ulaanbaatar Open in her other two international appearances.
In the women’s 50kg division, India’s Priyanshi Prajapat fell one win short of a bronze medal.
She lost to Jacqueline Mollocana of Ecuador, a former Pan-American champion, 4-2 in her medal bout after earning a shot through repechage.
After pinning Pan-American champion Katie Gomez in her opening bout, Priyanshi lost to the People’s Republic of China’s Feng Ziqi, an Olympic bronze medallist from Paris 2024, in the quarter-finals.
However, the Indian wrestler came back into medal contention through repechage and beat Canada’s Katie Dutchak.
This was Priyanshi’s second Ranking Series medal this year, having struck silver at Muhamet Malo back in February.
Dipanshi, also competing in the same division as Priyanshi, was ousted in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the men’s 125kg, Asian Games-bound wrestler Rajat Ruhal bagged a bronze medal after his opponent, Mason Parris of USA, handed the Indian wrestler a walkover due to injury.
Rajat had earlier lost to Kamil Kościółek of Poland in the quarters but beat Gwanuk Kim of the Republic of Korea 8-4 in the repechage round to qualify for the medal match.
Dinesh Dhankhar, the second Indian competing in the same division, bowed out in the quarters.
Punit Kumar (92kg) and Olympian Deepak Punia (97kg) struck out after losing the opening bouts in their respective divisions.
India’s medal tally at the Budapest Ranking Series now stands at five.
Barring the two medals on Thursday, Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat won gold in the men’s 57kg division on Wednesday while Deepak (men’s 61kg) and Vishal Kaliramana (men’s 65kg) bagged bronze medals.
World championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal will be in action in the women’s 53kg division on Saturday.
The Polyák Imre, Varga János & Kozma István Memorial 2026 is the fourth and final United World Wrestling (UWW) Ranking Series event of the season.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/budapest-ranking-series-2026-wrestling-day-2-results-india
