Assam's Kasturi Sharma wins double gold, seals three straight national titles

Kasturi Sharma left Bengaluru with two gold medals and a third straight national title, a result that said as much about Assam’s program as it did about one dominant weekend. The Assam arm wrestler won both the left-hand and right-hand crowns in the women’s 70kg class at the 6th BCAI National Arm Wrestling Championship, then finished the job by beating Kerala’s Princy T. Jack in the finals.

In arm wrestling, that kind of sweep carries real weight because the sport treats left-arm and right-arm competition as separate tests. A double-gold performance is usually the clearest sign of a complete puller, one who can manage grip, wrist control and leverage on both sides of the table. Sharma’s run through the 70kg bracket made that point loudly, and it turned one strong tournament into a championship streak that now stands at three consecutive national titles.

That streak also sharpens the conversation around where Sharma fits in India’s pecking order. Winning once can be a breakthrough; winning three nationals in a row makes her a constant. It gives her a stronger case as one of the country’s most reliable women’s pullers and pushes her into the conversation as Assam’s standard-bearer in a category that continues to produce some of the state’s biggest results.

The setting matters too. Assam sent an 88-member contingent to the championship, a sign of the scale behind the state’s arm-wrestling push. Sharma’s medals stood out inside that larger group, but they also fit a broader pattern. Assam topped the previous National Arm Wrestling Championship in Bengaluru with 52 gold medals, and Sharma’s latest double gold reinforces the idea that the state is building more than occasional champions. It is building depth.

That depth lands in a sport with deep roots in India. The Indian Arm Wrestling Federation says the game was introduced in the country in the early 1970s, that 28 states have since adopted it, and that national championships have been held since 1977. The federation’s rules also recognize women’s senior 70kg as a standard weight class, which makes Sharma’s title run even more significant: she excelled in one of the sport’s established national divisions, not in a niche showcase.

For Assam, the result is more than another medal haul. Sharma’s double gold gives the state a marquee individual champion and strengthens its argument as one of India’s most productive arm-wrestling programs.