Former U-20 world champion Priya Malik won the silver medal in the women’s freestyle 76kg category at the Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial 2025 wrestling tournament in Budapest, Hungary, on Saturday.
Priya Malik suffered a slender 4-3 loss to Thamires Martins Machado of Brazil in the final to secure India’s eighth medal at the Budapest meet.
The Indian wrestler began her campaign with a 7-2 upset win over Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Elmira Syzdykova of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals before a dominant 11-1 triumph against Valeriia Trifonova in the semis.
Her compatriot Manisha won bronze in the 62kg after a 9-0 victory by fall against Krystsina Sazykina.
After an 11-0 loss in the quarter-finals to Amina Tandelova, Manisha made it to the bronze medal bout through the repechage round, where she beat French Olympian Ameline Douarre 8-2 via fall.
Meanwhile, Pushpa, who was competing in the 55kg in the Nordic system, lost her matches against USA’s Cristelle Noelle Rodriguez and World Championships bronze medallist Karla Godinez of Canada.
In Greco-Roman wrestling, Karan Kamboj (87kg) failed to make it past qualification, while Ankit Gulia (72kg) exited in the pre-quarterfinals.
Saturday’s medal takes India’s overall tally at the Budapest meet to eight – three gold, two silver and three bronze. India won two medals on the opening day of the tournament and four on the second.
The Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial in Budapest is the fourth and final wrestling ranking series of the year.
The ranking points on offer will help wrestlers earn better seeding for the World Wrestling Championships, which will be held in Zagreb, Croatia in September.
India have fielded wrestlers across men’s and women’s freestyle, as well as the Greco-Roman, in the ongoing Budapest meet, which concludes on July 20.