India’s Hansika Lamba won silver medal in 55kg category in Budapest Ranking Series. Whereas, in men’s 125kg category, Rajat Ruhal won the bronze medal. India’s medal count in this tournament has now reached five.
budapest [हंगरी]July 17 (ANI): India’s Hansika Lamba won a silver medal in the women’s 55kg category at the Paulik Imre, Varga Janos and Kozma Istvan Memorial 2026 Wrestling Tournament, also known as the Budapest Ranking Series, in Hungary on Thursday.
According to Olympics.com, the 19-year-old wrestler suffered a 5-0 defeat to former Junior European champion Natalia Klevchutska of Ukraine in the final, leaving her second on the podium in the women’s freestyle category.
Hansika’s journey to the final
Hansika started her campaign with an 8-4 win over Turkey’s Tuba Demir in the quarter-finals, which she followed up with a comeback victory over Germany’s Anastasia Bleuwas 10-7 in the semi-finals. The Indian wrestler has had a fantastic season, winning bronze medals in his last two international outings at the Asian Championships and Ulaanbaatar Open.
Performance of other Indian wrestlers
In the women’s 50kg category, India’s Priyanshi Prajapat missed out on a bronze medal after advancing through the repechage, losing 4-2 to former Pan-American champion Jacqueline Molokana of Ecuador in the medal bout, according to Olympics.com. Priyanshi started her campaign by pinning Pan-American champion Katie Gomez, but lost to Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Feng Jieqi of China in the quarterfinals. She returned to medal contention through the repechage and defeated Katie Dutchak of Canada before losing in the bronze-medal match. This was Priyanshi’s second ranking series medal opportunity this year after winning silver at the Muhammed Malo tournament in February. Dipanshi, competing in the women’s 50kg category, was eliminated in the pre-quarterfinals.
Rajat Ruhal won bronze
In the men’s 125kg category, Asian Games-bound wrestler Rajat Ruhal secured a bronze medal as his rival, USA’s Mason Parris, gave the Indian a walkover due to injury. Rajat had earlier lost to Poland’s Kamil Kosciolek in the quarter-finals, but defeated Korea Republic’s Gwanuk Kim 8-4 in the repechage round to qualify for the bronze-medal bout.
According to Olympics.com, India’s other wrestler in the men’s 125kg category, Dinesh Dhankhar, made a quarter-final exit. Puneet Kumar (92kg) and Olympian Deepak Punia (97kg) were eliminated after losing their opening bouts in their respective weight categories.
India’s medal tally in the Budapest Ranking Series now stands at five. Earlier, Olympic medalist Aman Sehrawat won gold in the men’s 57kg category, while Deepak (61kg) and Vishal Kaliraman (65kg) won bronze medals. World Championship bronze medalist Anhalt Panghal will compete in the women’s 53kg category on Saturday.
Paulik Imre, Varga Janos and Kozma Istvan Memorial 2026 is the fourth and final United World Wrestling (UWW) Championship Series event of the season. (ANI)
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