Antim Panghal’s day started with a facile 23-second takedown of Carla Jaume Soler. It ended with blood-smeared lips, a tinge of red glinting on her teeth and fighting back tears. The 21-year-old lay on her back, breathless from an almighty battle. She left the mat shattered the last time she was on wrestling’s big stage, at the Olympics. And she left the mat distraught on her return to the big stage, at the World Championships.
There was one difference, though. Fighting for a spot in the 53kg category final, the young Indian left it all on the mat. She repeatedly clasped her opponent’s ankles, gripped her hips and tried to roll, counter-attacked and even tried to over-power her. But Antim was up against one of the finest wrestlers currently in the 53kg, Lucia Yepez of Ecuador. The Paris Olympics silver medallist’s explosive style and a rock-solid defence, which make her a complete package, have troubled even the mighty Japanese.
Antim doesn’t yet inspire the same level of trepidation on her opponents as the Japanese. But the previous World Championship’s bronze medallist is no pushover. Yet, Yepez’s ferocity seemed to have taken Antim by surprise.
She learnt it the hard way a little more than a minute into the bout. Antim tried to use her upper-body strength to throw Yepez on the mat. But the Ecuadorian wrestler turned her defence into attack by executing a stunning fireman’s carry, lifting Antim over her head and slamming her on the mat, for a four-pointer. The judge gave the move two points, however, the referee on the mat overruled it and gave four; the Indian corner considered an appeal but eventually did not.
Those two points eventually turned out to be the difference as Antim, who tried to stage a late comeback, lost 5-3 in the semifinals. She still has one more shot at a podium finish on Thursday.
Wednesday’s loss, though, will rankle Antim.
The two-time junior world champion has a tell. An early takedown in her first bout, followed by a quick win, is usually a sign that she’s in the mood. “She is a ‘confidence’ wrestler. When she begins well, she feels good about herself and settles into a rhythm smoothly,” Siyanand Dahiya, Antim’s coach, had said.
Antim needed only five seconds to get hold of the ankle of her first opponent. Spain’s Soler. She caught it with one swift move and never let it go. A takedown and four leg laces made for an easy 10-0 win in only 23 seconds.
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If the first bout demonstrated her ruthlessness, Antim showed a stomach for a fight in the second.
Her quarterfinal against China’s Jin Zhang may have appeared straightforward on paper. On mat, it was anything but.
Antim appeared to be cruising along at one stage, recording three takedowns to race to a 6-0 lead. Dahiya had revealed the work they had put in at the camp to add variety to Antim’s attacks. She displayed some of the variations by using her strength to snap to bring Zhang on her hands and then made a quick transition to go behind for a two-point takedown. She then used her power to force two more takedowns and race to a 6-0 lead.
At that point, the Indian looked to be in complete control of the tie. But the Chinese teenager, with her crippling laces and venomous leg attacks, staged a remarkable comeback. She caught Antim off guard to score her first two points. Then, in a series of frantic moves, she executed a takedown and two leg laces to overturn her deficit and take an 8-6 lead.
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Antim immediately pulled one point back with a reversal, when she accidentally got hit on the mouth and started bleeding, leading to a brief stoppage. With only three seconds left on the clock, Antim gripped Zhang by the chest and mustered all the strength she could to score a two-point takedown to win the bout 9-8 and set up a semifinal with Yepez.
In the last-four encounter, Antim needed to make a similar comeback after going 4-0 down in just a minute and a half. She got on the board with a reversal to bring down the deficit to three points. But Yepez’s style did not allow Antim to settle into the bout easily.
Yepez constantly moved around the mat in circles, never giving Antim the time and the opportunity to attack her legs. As she circled, Yepez simultaneously used her hands to thwart any attacking attempt. Dictating the pace of the bout, she read nearly every attack Antim tried and blocked it before it could be properly executed.
Like the quarterfinal, Antim managed to get a two-point takedown with three seconds remaining. Unlike that bout, however, it wasn’t enough for a place in the final. And she’ll return on Thursday again, eyeing a second consecutive World Championship bronze.
