Antim, Sujeet offer Indian wrestling fresh high points

Gold medals at the international ranking series will boost them ahead of September World Championship

- Avishek Roy

Antim Panghal seems to have turned a corner after her disappointing exit from the Paris Olympics. At the international ranking series in Budapest, Antim was back to her feisty best, dominating bouts with flair and confidence.

It was her second gold at a ranking series this year, having won the Ulaanbaatar Open in May. Her performance at the ongoing Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial came against some tough opponents that included Zeynep Yetgil of Turkey, who stunned her in the Olympics first round. Antim demolished Zeynep 10-0 in Budapest. In the semifinals, she crushed Felicity Taylor of USA by the same margin. The 53kg final against Natalia Malysheva was exciting, but the 20-year-old showed good control to win 7-4.

On a similar roll is Sujeet Kalkal, 23, who won gold in 65kg with a 5-1 result against Azerbaijan's Ali Rahimzade in the final. Sujeet showed mental toughness as he upset established names like Paris Olympics medallist Islam Dudaev (11-0) and World Championships medallist Vazgen Tevanyan (6-1). In June, Sujeet won gold in the U-23 Asian Championships, a competition where the continent's best upcoming talents converge. Sujeet won all his five bouts in Vietnam by technical superiority (10-0).