Astana, Oct. 27 -- Indian women's wrestling broke new ground at the World Championships on Tuesday, with debutants Kajal Dhochak and Neelam Sirohi storming into the gold medal bouts to ensure that two women's grapplers from the country will fight for the world title for the first time at the same edition of the premier event.

Neelam, 26, defeated Kazakhstan's Zeinep Bayanova 7-3 in the 50kg category to set up a title clash with Japanese great Yui Susaki. She became only the second Indian woman wrestler ever to make the title clash.

The 18-year-old Kajal soon became the third Indian to achieve the feat when she pulled off a stunning 10-7 comeback win over seasoned Kyrgyzstan wrestler Aiperi Medet Kyzy in the 76kg semifinals.

Kajal, who hails from Lath village in Haryana's Sonepat district, will face Ukraine's European champion Anastasiya Alpyeyeva in the final.

Until Tuesday, Anshu Malik, who won silver medal in 2021, was the only Indian woman to have reached a World Championships final, making the double breakthrough a landmark moment for the country.

Kajal's remarkable victory was a display of strength, tactical intelligence and an unyielding fighting spirit as she refused to surrender despite trailing 1-7 in the first period.

The two-time U20 world champion Kajal initially got on the scoreboard when Medet Kyzy stepped out of the mat, but the Kyrgyz soon took control, putting the Indian on the mat and coming close to securing a fall.

Kajal survived the pin attempt but found herself trailing 1-6.

The Indian camp challenged the two points awarded to Medet Kyzy for 'exposure' move, but the challenge was unsuccessful, allowing the Kyrgyz to extend her lead to 7-1.

Rather than being overawed by her opponent's reputation and the mounting deficit, Kajal launched a spirited counter-attack.

Using her considerable strength, she threw Medet Kyzy to the mat from the side to earn two points before executing another takedown to reduce the deficit to 5-7.

With the momentum beginning to shift towards Kajal, Indian coach Virender Dahiya urged her to keep pushing.

"You have a lot of time, go for it, just do not concede any more points," Dahiya screamed from the corner.

Kajal responded with a double-leg attack, again initiated from the side, to take 8-7 lead, completing a stunning turnaround.

As the bout approached its conclusion, Medet Kyzy attempted to push the Indian out of bounds.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.