Hansika Claims Silver, Rajat Secures Bronze as India's Medal Count Reaches Five in Budapest

Budapest: India's young wrestler Hansika Lamba continued her impressive run on the international stage by winning a silver medal in the women's 55kg freestyle category at the Budapest Ranking Series, while Rajat Ruhal added a bronze in the men's 125kg division, taking India's overall medal tally to five.

Nineteen-year-old Hansika settled for silver after going down 5-0 to Ukraine's former junior European champion Nataliia Klivchutska in the title clash.

Hansika had put together an impressive campaign en route to the final. She opened with an 8-4 victory over Turkiye's Tuba Demir in the quarterfinals before producing a remarkable comeback against Germany's Anastasia Blayvas in the semifinals. Trailing 7-2, the Indian wrestler fought back with four successive takedowns to seal a thrilling 10-7 win and book her place in the final.

The silver medal adds to an already successful season for Hansika, who had earlier clinched bronze medals at the Asian Championships and the Ulaanbaatar Open.

In the women's 50kg category, Priyanshi Prajapat narrowly missed out on a podium finish after losing 4-2 to Ecuador's Jacqueline Mollocana in the bronze medal bout.

Priyanshi began her campaign with a pinfall victory over Pan-American champion Katie Gomez of the United States but suffered a technical superiority defeat against eventual champion Feng Ziqi of China, the Paris Olympic bronze medallist, in the quarterfinals. With Feng advancing to the final, Priyanshi earned another chance through the repechage but was unable to capitalise in the medal match.

In the men's 125kg event, Rajat Ruhal secured a bronze medal after American wrestler Mason Parris withdrew from the bronze medal contest because of injury, handing the Indian a walkover.

Earlier in the competition, Rajat had lost to Poland's Kamil Koscio?ek in the quarterfinals but bounced back strongly by defeating Korea's Gwanuk Kim 8-4 in the repechage to keep his medal hopes alive.

Another Indian in the same weight category, Dinesh Dhankhar, exited in the quarterfinals, while Punit Kumar (92kg) and Olympian Deepak Punia (97kg) were eliminated after losing their opening bouts.

India had already enjoyed success earlier in the tournament, with Paris Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat winning gold in the men's 57kg category, while Deepak (61kg) and Vishal Kaliramana (65kg) claimed bronze medals.

With Hansika's silver and Rajat's bronze, India has now collected five medals at the Budapest Ranking Series.

With inputs from IANS