India's Antim Panghal won silver at the 2023 Asian Wrestling Championships in the 53kg division, after a 10-0 loss to Japanese phenom Akari Fujinami in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The medal also pushes into sharp context the major issue around Indian wrestling.
Fujinami, the reigning world champion, successfully defended her Asian crown on Wednesday in comfortable fashion. The 19-year-old led 4-0 in the opening minute before closing out the match inside the first round.
Antim had reached the final in style, winning two bouts by VFA (victory by fall) and one by VPO (victory by points), but despite her superb defensive skill, she was no match for the best in the world. Fujinami has now won 114 bouts on the trot (her last loss came in 2017); and has in fact not conceded a single point in senior international competition.
Antim, who became U20 World Champion last year (Fujinami missed the tournament through injury), was competing in only her second major international tournament.
In normal circumstances, India would have been represented in the women's 53kg division by the hugely successful Vinesh Phogat. Instead, Phogat is now in Sonepat training alongside Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia.
Antim had last competed against Vinesh in the qualifiers for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, a bout narrowly won by Vinesh, who went on to win gold in Birmingham. Now, though, Vinesh -- along with Bajrang, Ravi Dahiya and other senior wrestlers - is sitting out the competition in protest against the functioning of the Wrestling Federation of India and its president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
This is a crucial period for the wrestlers, with the Asian Games and World Championships in September this year and the Paris Olympics in July-August 2024. Vinesh may have the pedigree and the most recent trials win but Antim's Asian silver bolsters her claims to a spot on the senior team. She is now the form athlete.
There's no certainty over what will happen prior to the Asiad and the Worlds -- Indian wrestling isn't doing normal in 2023. Vinesh and the other protesting wrestlers are unhappy with the conduct of the investigation and if they continue to be at loggerheads, Antim could take the 53kg spot moving forward using this tournament's performances as the backing.
What then of Vinesh? The future remains murky, while the narrative around the individual careers of the protesting athletes has now become even more compelling.