Amruta Pujari Takes Silver as India's Women Close the U23 Worlds With Two Medals

LAS VEGAS — Amruta Pujari arrived at the U23 World Wrestling Championships with a reputation for finishing matches early, and she nearly carried that habit all the way to the top of the podium. On Saturday in Las Vegas, the 21-year-old from Solapur, Maharashtra, pinned both of her early-round opponents in the women's 72kg bracket to storm into the final — where Ukraine's Iryna Zablotska pinned her back.

Trailing 0-6 in the gold-medal bout, Amruta was caught and turned by Zablotska for the decisive fall, settling for silver. It was a bruising ending to a campaign that had promised so much more, but the medal still closed India's women's campaign with two podium finishes and gave the country its third medal of the championships.

Two pins and a promise

Amruta's run to the final was the most emphatic of any Indian wrestler at the tournament. She opened against Kazakhstan's Sabyrzhanova, surging to a 7-1 lead before ending the contest by fall. In the semifinal against China's Wenjin Qiu, she was leading 10-8 when she secured another pinfall victory to book her place in the gold-medal bout.

The final was a different story. Zablotska, powerful and composed, took an early 6-0 lead and then capitalised decisively, turning Amruta for the fall that sealed the Ukrainian's gold. There were no complaints about the outcome — just a reminder of the gap between dominance and the very top.

India's women concluded their campaign with two medals: Amruta's silver and Komal's bronze in the 59kg division, won on Friday with a convincing 7-2 victory over Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova.

Komal's bronze and the near misses

Komal's road to the podium was the grinder's path. She edged Canada's Ella Finding on criteria after their bout ended 1-1, then beat Moldova's Madalina Prisacari 8-3. Her title run was halted in the semifinal, where Ukraine's Alina Filipovych won by technical superiority — sending the Indian into the bronze-medal contest, where she finished the job clinically.

India came close to a third women's medal but could not close it out. Sweety, in the 53kg division, edged past China's Xiaotong Zeng 11-10 in the repechage round only to lose the bronze-medal playoff 0-11 by technical superiority to Ukraine's Anastasiia Polska. Vaishnavi Patil failed to capitalise on her 65kg repechage opportunity, going down 2-4 to Japan's Haruka Kobaru, while Diksha Malik finished fifth in the 76kg category.

The wider Indian tally: three medals and a reality check

With Amruta's silver, India's overall medal count at the championships reached three. Alongside the two women's medals stands Vishvajit More's historic silver in the Greco-Roman 55kg division — the first-ever Greco-Roman silver for India at the U23 Worlds, earned after a 12-13 final defeat to Georgia's Koba Karumidze in the dying seconds. More, who had already collected two U23 bronze medals, became the first Indian to reach a Greco-Roman final at the event.

The tally, though, looks thin against the previous edition: in Novi Sad, Indian wrestlers won nine medals — one gold, one silver and seven bronze. The drop-off is real, and it was starkest in the men's freestyle competition on Friday, where none of the five Indian wrestlers in action reached the medal rounds. Vaibhav Patil was knocked out of the 61kg pre-quarterfinals by technical superiority (0-11) against Romania's Gabriel Whisenhunt; Adarsh Patil bowed out of 74kg with a 4-6 round-of-16 defeat to Japan's Toki Ogawal; Amit lost by fall to Georgia's Tornike Samkharadze in the 86kg round of 16; Nikhil suffered a technical-superiority defeat to Georgia's Sandro Kurashvili at 92kg; and Ronak Dahya exited the 125kg quarterfinals 1-11 by technical superiority against Azerbaijan's Khetag Karsanov.

The visa shadow over the squad

The results must also be read against a difficult off-mat backdrop. According to the Wrestling Federation of India, nine Indian wrestlers were denied US visas ahead of the championships — reportedly on the grounds that they were under 20 and unemployed — and the WFI chief Sanjay Singh said even a letter from the United World Wrestling president could not secure the visas in time. Visa issues ultimately prevented Indian wrestlers from competing in four women's categories and five Greco-Roman divisions, thinning the squad before a bout was even fought.

That context does not erase the on-mat lessons. Amruta's pins showed India's women can dominate at this level; her final showed the composure gap that remains against the very best. Two silver medals and a bronze — with one of them historic — is a credible haul under the circumstances. But for a country whose women and Greco-Roman programs have tasted podium success before, Las Vegas felt like a championship of almost: almost enough medals, almost enough finalists, almost enough depth. The next cycle starts now.