Neelam Sirohi: UP's very own stubborn wrestler who took on the world's best

Neelam Sirohi grew up in a village where wrestling akharas were slowly disappearing. In Astana, she found herself standing across the mat from one of the greatest wrestlers of her generation.The Indian had fought her way into the women's 50kg final at the World Wrestling Championships, where Japan's Yui Susaki stood between her and gold. A four-time world champion, Susaki had dominated the mat for years, rarely giving her opponents a chance. Neelam, however, refused to make it easy for her.For the first two minutes, neither wrestler could find a breakthrough. Neelam, 26, defended resolutely and denied Susaki an opening. But just as the first period was drawing to a close, the Japanese wrestler attacked her left leg, secured a takedown and pinned the Indian. Susaki claimed her fifth world title, leaving Neelam with silver. Neelam won the silver medal at the World Championships. (Photo: WFI) There was more disappointment for India on the same day, as Kajal Dhochak also lost the women's 76kg final. Still, their runs to the gold-medal bouts marked a first for Indian women's wrestling, with two Indians reaching the finals at the same senior World Championships. Before Astana, Anshu Malik had been the only Indian woman to reach a senior World Championships final. For Neelam, the road to that final began much further away, in a village near Mathura, with a bicycle.She comes from Phenchari in western Uttar Pradesh, where traditional wrestling akharas have gradually faded. Wrestling, however, was already part of her family's story. Her grandfather and maternal uncle were wrestlers, her coach Parvesh Rathi says, while her sister, Chanchal, also took up the sport. Her father was initially reluctant to let Neelam follow the same path, but her uncle eventually convinced him to give her a chance. Once she began training, getting to the academy in Dwarka became the next challenge. Neelam's solution was simple. She cycled 10 kilometres each way to practise."When she started, she used to make a 10-kilometre journey every day by bicycle," Rathi recalled.That determination has stayed with her. Rathi describes Neelam as someone who knows what she wants and is prepared to do whatever it takes to get there."Absolutely, absolutely. She is very stubborn. Whatever she wants, she wants it, no matter what she has to do for it. She wanted something from childhood."Her career has been built on that persistence, although progress has not always been straightforward.THE STAGE IS SET! Neelam Sirohi takes on Japan’s Yui Susaki in the Women’s 50kg final at the Senior World Championships 2026. One bout. One dream. A chance to make history. Let’s get behind Neelam! - @wrestling #WFI #TeamIndia #WrestleAstana https://t.co/gKWi0272AJ— Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) (@wfi_wrestling) October 28, 2026Neelam won bronze in the 43kg category at the 2017 Cadet World Championships before finishing ninth at the Junior World Championships in 2019. In 2022, she claimed silver at both the Dan Kolov and Asian U23 championships, but her first appearance at the senior World Championships ended with a 13th-place finish.She bounced back the following year, winning gold at the Asian U23 Championships. She also finished ninth at the senior Worlds and fifth at the U23 Worlds. Last year, she collected three bronze medals on the ranking series circuit before adding silver in Zagreb and bronze in Ulaanbaatar this season.The results showed that she was making steady progress. But just as she seemed to be closing in on the next level, another setback came her way at the Asian Games trials.THE DEFEAT THAT TESTED HERNeelam looked well on course to secure her place at the Asian Games after taking a 6-0 lead against Deepanshi. But she let the advantage slip and eventually lost the bout, missing out on an opportunity she had worked hard to earn.For India's chief women's coach, Virender Dahiya, the defeat was particularly difficult to take."We felt we had just lost a gold medal in that weight category."Rathi also struggled to make sense of the result. He felt Neelam had been the stronger wrestler in their previous meetings, often beating Deepanshi comfortably by two or three points. Deepanshi went on to win bronze at the Asian Games, making the trial defeat even harder for Neelam and her camp to accept. Neelam with her coach Parvesh Rathi, who never lost faith in the wrestler. (Photo: PTI) Rathi believed luck had played a part, but the immediate task was to help Neelam move on. She needed to put the disappointment behind her, rebuild her confidence and get back to the level that had brought her so close to the top.There was another contentious moment before the World Championships, this time during the trials against Parveen Malik. Neelam's camp felt the referee had failed to award her points, prompting the Wrestling Federation of India to send the video to United World Wrestling for review. The findings went in Neelam's favour, with the review indicating that she had been denied two points that would have taken the score to 10-0 and secured a technical superiority win.By the time she arrived in Astana, Neelam had plenty to prove. She opened her campaign with a 6-0 win over Natallia Varakina. A withdrawal by Russia's top seed Elizaveta Smirnova then sent her through to the semi-finals, where she beat Zeynep Bayanova 7-3 to book her place in the final.Waiting for her was Susaki, a wrestler with a formidable record. The Japanese star had won a world title at 48kg and three more at 50kg, and had lost only once at the international level. Few opponents could have posed a tougher challenge on the biggest stage.Neelam held her own for nearly three minutes before Susaki found the opening that changed the bout. The Japanese wrestler's takedown and pin ended Neelam's hopes of gold, but the Indian had at least pushed one of the sport's most dominant wrestlers before the decisive move.For Rathi, there was pride in seeing his wrestler reach the final, even if he felt she could have done more.He believed the occasion and the weight of Susaki's reputation may have affected Neelam, while insisting that the gap between the two was not as wide as the result suggested. Reaching the final had shown Neelam that she belonged at that level. Beating a wrestler like Susaki, however, would require her to take the next step.FROM SILVER TO THE NEXT CHALLENGEThe disappointment of losing a World Championships final will not disappear overnight. But Neelam has little time to dwell on it, with the Los Angeles Olympics still two years away and preparations for the next big challenge already under way.Rathi believes the groundwork is in place. Neelam trains twice a day and has received support from Reliance, the Railways and federation camps. Having worked with her for around two years, he has seen first-hand how much effort she puts into improving her game."Everything is already set," he said, reflecting on the preparations ahead.The focus now is on turning the experience of Astana into something she can build on. Neelam knows what it takes to reach a World Championships final. The next challenge is to find a way to win one.She once cycled 10 kilometres each way just to get to wrestling practice. Years later, she has made it to a World Championships final and stood across the mat from one of the best wrestlers in the world.Silver was not the finish she had hoped for, but it was another milestone in a journey that began far from the spotlight. With the Olympics on the horizon, Neelam has another target to chase, and a clearer idea of what she needs to do to go one step further.- Ends