Zagreb, Feb 6 (.) Neelam Sirohi clinched the silver medal in the women’s 50kg freestyle category as India added four more medals on Thursday to take their tally to seven at the Zagreb Open 2026 wrestling tournament, the first UWW Ranking Series event of the year.
India’s medal haul now stands at one gold, two silver, and four bronze medals, following bronze medal finishes by Vicky Hooda (men’s 97kg), Dinesh Dhankhar (men’s 125kg), and Muskan (women’s 50kg), as per Olympics.com.
Neelam produced an impressive run to the final, beginning with a dominant 10-0 victory over Poland’s Agata Walerzak before registering a 12-2 win against Azerbaijan’s Elnura Mammadova in the quarter-finals.
She then edged compatriot Muskan 7-4 in the semi-finals to set up a gold medal clash against Japan’s Haruna Morikawa. Neelam eventually settled for silver after a 5-2 loss to the U23 world champion.
Muskan, however, bounced back strongly after her semi-final defeat, overpowering Walerzak 11-0 to secure the bronze medal in the same weight category.
In the men’s 97kg freestyle division, Vicky Hooda recovered well after a quarter-final loss to USA’s Stephen Buchanan II, who beat him 14-7.
Pushed into the repechage, Vicky defeated Canada’s Samuel Miklos Maria Pereira 12-1 and carried the momentum into the bronze medal bout, where he overcame France’s Adlan Vishkhanov 8-2 to claim a podium finish. Deepak Chahal, also competing in the category, exited in the qualification round.
Dinesh Dhankhar secured India’s third bronze of the day in the men’s 125kg category. After suffering a 13-1 quarter-final defeat to Bahrain’s Shamil Sharipov, Dinesh staged a strong comeback with a 12-2 repechage win over USA’s Demetrius Thomas before pinning Poland’s Kamil Kosciolek in the bronze medal match.
Mahendra Babasaheb Gaikwad was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the same division.
Elsewhere, Amit (men’s 79kg) and Jyoti (women’s 55kg) bowed out in the qualification rounds.
Earlier on Wednesday, U23 world champion Sujeet Kalkal won gold in the men’s 65kg category, while Paris 2024 bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat clinched silver in the men’s 61kg division.
Olympian and two-time World Championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal is scheduled to compete on Saturday.
. VAN PRS