Promise 2025: Hailing from same village, young Neha Sangwan stomps in Vinesh Phogat’s footsteps | Sport-others News

Promise 2025: As a new year begins, there is bound to be fresh hope for India’s upcoming young athletes. From a pre-teen chess player to an early teen cricketer, we take a look at who can make their mark in the coming years
Back in August, when Vinesh Phogat returned to her village Balali in Haryana post Paris Olympics past midnight, the then 16-year-old Neha Sangwan attended the felicitation ceremony along with her friends.
With the U17 World Championships in Jordan ten days away, Neha had spent that day first training for more than five hours before receiving Vinesh. Following in footsteps of the two-time world bronze medall, and CWG Champions Geeta and Babita Phogat from Balali, Neha is the latest wrestling talent from the village.
Coming from a wrestling family, Neha competes in the 57 kg category, same as Anshu Malik’s at Paris Olympics. A young Anshu too had success at the junior level when at 16 she became the cadet world champion in 60 Kg in 2017 before a silver in the 2021 World Championship. Neha would become the Asian U15 champion in 54 Kg in 2022 before she made the shift to 57 Kg the same year and won the bronze in the same category in World Cadets in Turkey.
“One of the advantages, which Neha has at this young age is that she knows when to use which move,” says coach Sajan Singh Mandola. “Her basics like Lohkan, where she shifts the hand of the opponent behind the ears to push her backwards and to complete the takedown, and Dhobhi where she utilised wa movements to make the arms move and Bharandaz, a gut wrench, are good. Practising these moves repeatedly makes her mentally and physically strong. Neha has a fine balance of speed and strength in 57kg. In this coming year, she will turn senior and we will be working on her strength. Most wrestlers are a bit taller in 57 Kg but Neha knows how to counter that,” says coach Sajan Singh Mandola.
Within a month of her becoming the U17 world champion, Neha won the bronze in the U20 World Championships in Spain in September. Earlier this year, she had also become the U17 Asian champion While she had scored a 10-0 win over Japan’s So Tsutsui in Jordan, she win 10-8 against Gerda Terek of Hungary in Spain. Last year, Neha lost only one bout at the international level.
Neha’s father Amit is a former sarpanch of the village and treasures the international medals won his daughter. “Be it U15, U17 and U20, Neha always believes that she can return with a medal and that has been her mentality right from the start. This January 1, she will be eligible to compete in the senior category and we will be charting out a plan for her. She has some good years of juniors left at the international level and winning an Olympic medal is her target,” said Sangwan Sr.

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