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India's Hansika Lamba clinched the silver medal in the women's 55kg event at the Polyak Imre, Varga Janos & Kozma Istvan Memorial 2026 wrestling tournament, also known as the Budapest Ranking Series, in Hungary on Thursday.
The 19-year-old wrestler went down 5-0 to Ukraine's Nataliia Klivchutska, a former junior European champion, in the final to finish on the second step of the podium in the women's freestyle category, according to Olympics.com. Hansika began her campaign with an 8-4 victory over Turkiye's Tuba Demir in the quarter-finals before overcoming Germany's Anastasia Blayvas 10-7 in the semi-finals after staging a comeback. The Indian wrestler has enjoyed an impressive season, having also secured bronze medals at the Asian Championships and the Ulaanbaatar Open in her previous two international outings. In the women's 50kg category, India's Priyanshi Prajapat missed out on a bronze medal after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Ecuador's Jacqueline Mollocana, a former Pan-American champion, in the medal bout after advancing through repechage, according to Olympics.com. Priyanshi had started her campaign by pinning Pan-American champion Katie Gomez before losing to Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Feng Ziqi of China in the quarter-finals. She returned to medal contention through repechage and defeated Canada's Katie Dutchak before falling in the bronze-medal match. It was Priyanshi's second Ranking Series medal opportunity this year after winning silver at the Muhamet Malo tournament in February. Dipanshi, who also competed in the women's 50kg category, exited in the pre-quarterfinals. In the men's 125kg category, Asian Games-bound wrestler Rajat Ruhal secured a bronze medal after his opponent, Mason Parris of the USA, gave the Indian a walkover due to injury. Rajat had earlier lost to Poland's Kamil Kosciolek in the quarter-finals before defeating the Republic of Korea's Gwanuk Kim 8-4 in the repechage round to qualify for the bronze-medal bout. According to Olympics.com, Dinesh Dhankhar, India's other wrestler in the men's 125kg division, bowed out in the quarter-finals. Punit Kumar (92kg) and Olympian Deepak Punia (97kg) were eliminated after losing their opening bouts in their respective weight categories. India's medal tally at the Budapest Ranking Series now stands at five. Earlier, Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat won gold in the men's 57kg category, while Deepak (61kg) and Vishal Kaliramana (65kg) claimed bronze medals. World Championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal will compete in the women's 53kg category on Saturday. The Polyak Imre, Varga Janos & Kozma Istvan Memorial 2026 is the fourth and final United World Wrestling (UWW) Ranking Series event of the season. (ANI)
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