Antim Panghal: The Dangal Chori Making Waves at the Paris Olympics 2024

“Choriya Choro se kam hai ke?” Dangal Chori, aka wrestler Antim Panghal, will soon compete at the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024. This young wrestler hails from Bhagana village in Hisar district, Haryana. She is the second-youngest of her parents, Krishna Kumari and Ram Niwas Panghal’s five children. Sarita, Antim Panghal’s sister and a national-level Kabaddi player, was the one who first took her to Mahavir Stadium in Hisar city for a wrestling programme. She was 10 at the time and this was how she was introduced to the world of wrestling. Antim’s elder sisters are Sarita, Meenu, and Nisha, and she also has a brother, Arpit.

Medalist Panghal

In 2023, Panghal was a bronze medalist at World Champions in Belgrade and at Asian Games at Hangzhou. She bagged a silver medal at Asian Championships at Astana in the same year. Panghal won India’s first quota for the 2023 World Wrestling Championships. She earned a gold medal at the Grand Prix in Tunisia and silver medal at Budapest. At the World Junior Championships, she secured gold medal at both Sofia in 2022 and Amman in 2023.

The 19-year-old teenager made history by becoming India’s first-ever U-20 World Wrestling Champion and has successfully retained the title in 2024 as well. She has also been a medalist at the Senior World Wrestling Championships and Asian Games.

Freestyle wrestler Panghal was also named Rising Star of the Year in 2023 by the United World Wrestling. She is the youngest Indian to secure a medal at the Senior World Wrestling Championships. Panghal has been wrestling in the 53kg category since she started her career in wrestling as a teenager.

Panghal recently won a silver medal at the Ranking Series, Polyak Imre & Vargo Janos Memorial wrestling tournament, held last month, June, in Budapest, Hungary. 

Event in Paris Olympics 2024

Antim Panghal will compete in the Women’s freestyle wrestling in the 53kg category in round 16 at 3:00 PM on 7 August 2024 at the Paris Olympics 2024. 

Will the young athelete bring home an Olympics medal this year?