Indian wrestler Priya Malik on Friday, October 24, defeated Mexico’s Edna Jimenez Villalba in the bronze medal match of the 76 kg division. The win got India its first-ever medal in the women’s freestyle category at the tournament. The win against Villalba has now got her the second world medal in the same age group.
On Thursday, the former U20 World Champion opened the medal tally in the women’s freestyle category in the 76 kg division by winning her first U-23 bronze at the event being held in Serbia. After losing her opening round to champion Kylie Welker of the USA in a technical superiority by 0-10. She, however, made a strong comeback against Canada’s Nyla Burgess and got the win by 10-0.
Ptiya’s prominence continued against Villalba, whom she outclassed by a brilliant score of 8-1. In total, Priya now has two World Championship medals and, overall, six world medals in the same age group. Besides, she has two U-17 world titles, three U-20 medals, and her recent addition of a U-23 bronze medal.
Two Indian wrestlers made an exit in the qualification round. Hanny Kumari in the 50 kg division lost her fight against Sviatlana Katenka by a score of 4-6. On the other hand, joining her was Diksha Malik in the 72 kg division, who also did not qualify after losing to China’s Yuqi Liu by 3-9.
Priya Malik’s milestones in 2025
Earlier this year, Priya won a silver medal at the Ranking Series wrestling event in Budapest. She defeated Brazil’s Pan-American silver medalist Thamires Machado in the women’s 76 kg division final game by 4-3 in the U20 age group.
The two-time Asian under-23 champion outclassed Kazakhstan’s Elmira Syzdykova, the 2016 Olympics bronze medallist, by 7-2 and U-23 world bronze medallist Valeriia Trifonova by 11-1 to book her place in the finals. In the tournament, the India women’s team ranking was at the top of the tally with two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.
Again, at the U20 World Wrestling Championships 2025 held in Bulgaria from August 17 to 24, the two-time U17 gold medalist won a silver in the women’s 76 kg division, playing the finals game against Ukraine’s Nadia Sokolovska.
Before the U-23 tournament, Priya also competed at the 2025 World Wrestling Championship held in Zagreb in the month of September. In the 76 kg division, she first lost the match against Ecuador’s Genesis Reasco by 2-4 but later qualified for the repechage bout, which she won against Italy’s Enrica Rinladi.
She was, however, one short of a medal, which she lost after experiencing a tough fight against Paris Olympic medalist Milaimys Marín from Cuba in the bronze medal match.
