Nishio: Sujeet Kalkal ended India’s wait for a wrestling gold at the Asian Games 2026 with a stunning comeback victory in the men’s freestyle 65kg category, overcoming Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiyev 10-9 in a dramatic final at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center on Friday.
For most of the match the 23-year-old Indian was behind 2-9, but then pulled off a remarkable late rally by scoring eight consecutive points in the final stages and won from Kudiyev to secure India’s first wrestling gold at the Games.
The triumph of Kalkal was the climax of an impressive series of results in Aichi-Nagoya, having already beaten an Olympic champion and overcome tough opponents from Iran and Japan on his way to the final.
The Indian fighter started his challenge against Afghanistan’s Sayed Omar Zazai and suffered an early setback by being behind 0-3. Kalkal then changed the course of the match by scoring with a push-out and a shoulder throw, thereby taking the lead 5-3.
He then scored four additional points with another throw and a roll, achieving a 13-3 technical superiority win and thus progressing to the quarterfinals.
Kalkal then gave a clinical performance in his match against Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi and won by means of technical superiority without losing a single point.
This semifinal was the greatest challenge he had to face since he had to play against Japan’s Olympic champion, Kotaro Kiyooka. Although Kalkal was behind 0-2 by the end of the first period, he managed to recover in the second period by scoring three points while Kiyooka scored only one.
Since the match ended in a 3-3 draw, Kalkal won it on the basis of the criteria and secured his spot in the final, where he would face Kudiyev.
The Tajik wrestler seemed to be within touching distance of the gold after having established a 9-2 lead, but Kalkal would not give in and carried off a stunning comeback in the last moments.
He scored eight points one after another to turn the deficit and secured a memorable 10-9 win, thus winning his first gold medal at the Asian Games in a dramatic manner.
(IANS)
