Using strong defence and leg attacks, wrestler Kajal wins World Under-20 gold

While the family are natives of Lath village known for kabaddi near Sonepat, the family shifted to Sonepat years ago. It was in 2017 that a young Kajal would be taken to the Kuldeep Malik Wrestling Academy near Sonepat to train under coaches Kuldeep Malik and Ajay Malik. The youngster would win the title in the 73 Kg category in the Under-17 World Championships at Kyrgyzstan in 2023 followed by the Under-17 Asian title in 73 Kg and Under-17 world title in the 69 Kg category last year.

This year, Kajal won the silver in 73 Kg category in the Under-17 Asia Championships in Vietnam before winning the gold in the 76 Kg category in the Under-20 Asian Championships in Kyrgyzstan. In the Asian Championship trials, Kajal had defeated 2023 World U20 champion (76 Kg) and this week’s world’s U-20 silver medallist in the 76 kg, an olympic category, Priya Malik in the trials.

Kajal had first scored wins over Emili Mihaylova of Bulgaria and Kaiyrkul Sharshebaeva of Kyrgyzstan followed by a 13-6 win over American Jasmine Robinson in the semi-finals. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

“Right from her young days, Kajal would be natural in moves like leg lock and would often try with me. Initially she was a bit weak but then with the diet and training, Kajal would add more weight and compete in the higher weight categories. I was also a heavyweight wrestler so I knew along with weight, we would also need more speed as well as stamina and would also lay emphasis on leg attacks,” Krishan said.

On Thursday, Kajal had first scored wins over Emili Mihaylova of Bulgaria and Kaiyrkul Sharshebaeva of Kyrgyzstan followed by a 13-6 win over American Jasmine Robinson in the semi-finals. With Robinson being a defending U20 champion in the same category, Kajal had her task cut out but made a strong comeback in the semi-finals after trailing 0-4. In the final too, Kajal took an initial lead of 4-0 before Yuqi staged a comeback but the Haryana youngster was solid in her defence and won the bout 8-6.

Wrestler Kajal after victory. (United World Wrestling)

“Prior to 2020, she was a bit weak and would compete in the 38-40 Kg category. But she was always very swift in her moves and would not fear bigger wrestlers at the academy. She has always been good in double leg attack and throwing attacks. During the semis against Robinson yesterday, she was playing with fever. Today against the Chinese too, Kajal was playing despite running a temperature. She relied on her leg attacks as well avoiding the Chinese leg attacks. This comes from the swiftness,” her coach Ajay Malik said.