Once in the cadet category, Ankush Panghal had won medals at the Asian and World level but since then it had been a long time she won any medal at the international level. Finally, the moment came in the Spanish city of Pontevedra when she won a silver in the World Under 23 Championship and compensated for the visa denial to many players of the Indian contingent.
Ankush won the first two bouts against wrestlers from Ukraine and Germany. She said that she did not face any problem in winning these bouts due to technical superiority. After that in the semi-finals, she had Egyptian wrestler in front of her, who defeated her some time ago, but this time she played against her with full confidence and defeated her by 8-2 to make it to the finals.
In the final, Ankush faced Olympic and World Champion Yui Susaki of Japan, where she had to be satisfied with the silver medal after losing in the final. Ankush said that of course she lost to her but she learned a lot from this experience. She said, “I know that in the upcoming competitions also I am going to face this player. I assure that I will try to give my best.”
Ankush practices at Sushil Wrestling Academy, Hisar, which is 20 km away from her home, so she stays in the Academy. Ankush said that her papa was a farmer and he came daily to see her practice and brought milk, ghee and curd for her. She said, “I am getting very good support from family. Apart from this, Jasvir Dhaka is my coach. This performance has boosted my morale and the hunger for victory has become even stronger.”
“I will work on my weaknesses with Dhaka sir and the national team coaches. I just have to work on my strength. Only by doing all this I will be able to face the Olympic champions firmly. It is my sincere wish that in the next Asian Games, I should win a gold medal for the country,” she further added.
Ankush said that she was definitely hurt by not getting visas for her fellow wrestlers and she was confident that this would not happen again. She said that if the entire team had got the visa, then the team championship would have belonged to them because the preparation of the rest of the team was very good.