Antim Panghal won the silver medal in the women’s 53kg freestyle wrestling event at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Saturday. She lost 1-9 to Japan’s Moe Kiyooka in the gold-medal bout at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center.

Kiyooka, ranked 19th in the world, took an early lead and never let go. Antim tried to fight back and briefly appeared to score, but her challenge was unsuccessful. The Japanese wrestler sealed the gold with a takedown late in the bout.

Antim had a strong run to the final. She opened with a 9-0 win over Kazakhstan’s Shugyla Omirbek, then beat Uzbekistan’s Sakibjamal Esbosynova 8-0 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she defeated China’s Jin Zhang 6-1.

This is Antim’s second Asian Games medal after the bronze she won at Hangzhou 2022. It is also India’s first-ever silver in the women’s 53kg freestyle event at the Asiad.

Her medal is the sixth won by Indian wrestlers at these Games and took India’s overall tally to 84 medals, with 20 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze, according to the Sports Authority of India.