Wrestler Sujeet Kalkal scripts history with gold medal

The Indian freestyle wrestler defeated Tajikistan’s Abdulmajid Kudiev 10-9 in the men’s 65kg final, pulling off one of the most thrilling comebacks at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Trailing by seven points during the bout, Kalkal executed multiple takedowns to narrow the gap; with just 11 seconds remaining, he secured a decisive two-point takedown to reach a score of 10, overtaking Kudiev’s 9 points.

This victory capped a journey that had already seen him achieve the biggest win of his career. In the semi-finals, Kalkal defeated Japan’s reigning Olympic champion, Kotaro Kiyooka, on criteria after the bout ended 3-3. Despite the Japanese wrestler taking an early lead, Kalkal overcame the home favorite through the final scoring action of the match. Earlier in the day, he had defeated Afghanistan’s Sayed Omar Zazai 13-3 via technical superiority and beaten Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadeh 10-0.

This gold medal marks a magnificent achievement in a year where Kalkal has rarely tasted defeat. He is the reigning Asian champion—having defeated Kudiev 7-2 en route to the title in Bishkek—and also holds the World U-23 title. The Asian Games final was a rematch that, until the very last moments, appeared to be heading toward a loss.

This result also ended a long wait for Indian men’s wrestling. Kalkal became the first Indian male wrestler to win a gold medal at the Asian Games since Bajrang Punia in 2018. Yogeshwar Dutt won the 65kg title in 2014; since then, India had not won a gold medal in this weight category.