November 14: India won six wrestling medals at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, two golds, two silvers and two bronzes, according to the official Games results. Aman Sehrawat beat world champion Han Chong Song of North Korea 11–7 in the men’s freestyle 57kg final, India’s first Asian Games gold at that weight, and Sujeet won the 65kg title on his Asian Games debut after knocking out Japan’s Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka in the semifinal.
Key highlights
- Medals: 6 in total, with 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze, won between September 30 and October 3 in Nagoya.
- Freestyle: gold for Aman Sehrawat (57kg) and Sujeet (65kg), bronze for Deepak Punia (97kg).
- Greco-Roman: silver for Nitesh (97kg), bronze for Sunil Kumar (87kg).
- Women’s wrestling: silver for Antim (53kg).
- Close finals: Sujeet won his final 10–9; Aman won his 11–7.
All six medals
| Wrestler | Event | Medal | Medal bout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aman Sehrawat | Freestyle 57kg | Gold | Beat Han Chong Song (North Korea) 11–7 |
| Sujeet | Freestyle 65kg | Gold | Beat Abdulmazhid Kudiev (Tajikistan) 10–9 |
| Antim | Women’s 53kg | Silver | Lost to Moe Kiyooka (Japan) 1–9 |
| Nitesh | Greco-Roman 97kg | Silver | Lost to Yuri Nakazato (Japan) 0–4 |
| Deepak Punia | Freestyle 97kg | Bronze | Beat Gankhuyag Ganbaatar (Mongolia) 2–1 |
| Sunil Kumar | Greco-Roman 87kg | Bronze | Beat Callum Johnston Roberts (Philippines) 9–0 |
Aman Sehrawat: from bronze to gold
Aman, 23, the Olympic bronze medallist at 57kg, won four bouts on the final day. He beat Japan’s Yamato Ogawa 20–9 in a match in which the lead changed hands at least seven times, then beat Kazakhstan’s Nurdanat Aitanov 12–1 and Tajikistan’s Aiaal Belolyubskii 14–8. In the final he beat Han, whom United World Wrestling described as the world champion, 11–7. The Prime Minister’s Office said Aman had moved up from a bronze at the previous Asian Games to gold at this one.
Sujeet: a debut title
Sujeet, 24, the reigning Asian champion, opened with a 13–3 win over Afghanistan’s Sayed Omar Zazai and a 10–0 win over Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadeh. His semifinal against Kiyooka, the Olympic champion, ended 3–3, and Sujeet went through on criteria after a challenge went against the Japanese wrestler. He then beat Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev 10–9 in the final. The Prime Minister’s Office said it was India’s first wrestling gold of these Games and Sujeet’s first Asian Games.
The silver and bronze medals
Antim, 22, beat Kazakhstan’s Shugyla Omirbek 9–0, pinned Uzbekistan’s Sakibjamal Esbosynova and beat China’s Zhang Jin 6–1 before losing the 53kg final 1–9 to Japan’s Moe Kiyooka. In Greco-Roman, Nitesh beat Turkmenistan’s Amanberdi Agamammedov 7–1 and Mongolia’s Gankhuyag Ganbaatar 9–0, then lost the 97kg final 0–4 to Japan’s Yuri Nakazato.
Sunil Kumar lost his 87kg semifinal 0–11 to Japan’s Taizo Yoshida but won bronze 9–0. Deepak Punia lost 8–9 to Uzbekistan’s Sherzod Poyonov in freestyle 97kg and then won his bronze bout 2–1.
Our calculation
| Question | Answer | How we got it |
|---|---|---|
| Combined score in India’s two gold-medal finals | 21–16 | Aman 11–7 and Sujeet 10–9 |
| Medals by style | Freestyle 3, Greco-Roman 2, women’s 1 | From the medal list above |
| Medal-round defeats against Japan | 3 | Antim and Nitesh in finals, Sunil Kumar in a semifinal |
| Wrestling’s share of India’s total medals | About 7% | 6 of 85 medals |
What it means for India and Asia
Japan remains the benchmark in Asian wrestling: three of India’s medal-round defeats came against Japanese wrestlers. But both Indian champions beat Japanese wrestlers on the way to gold, and Aman beat North Korea’s world champion in the final. Japan’s own stars were not untouchable either: United World Wrestling reported that Olympic champion Akari Fujinami lost her 57kg semifinal to a North Korean opponent, her first international defeat, ending a run of 155 wins.
For India, the six medals came across all three styles: freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling.
What to watch
- How Aman and Sujeet fare against the world’s best at the next World Championships.
- Whether Antim can close the gap on Japan’s Moe Kiyooka at 53kg.
- Olympic qualification for Los Angeles 2028.
Aman Sehrawat (third from left) on the podium after winning bronze in men’s freestyle 57kg at the Paris 2024 Olympics (file photo). Image: National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Photo source · Licence
Sources
- Official results: 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026
- United World Wrestling: Asian Games 2026 Wrestling Day 4 highlights
- United World Wrestling: Asian Games 2026 Wrestling Day 3 highlights
- United World Wrestling: Sujeet stuns Olympic champion Kiyooka to make Asian Games 65kg final
- Prime Minister’s Office: PM congratulates Aman Sehrawat on winning historic gold
- Prime Minister’s Office: PM congratulates Sujeet on winning gold
- PIB (Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports): Asian Games 2026, India’s journey from New Delhi to Aichi-Nagoya (PDF)
The Sports Desk covers cricket, the Asian Games and Indian and international sport. Stories are checked against at least two credible sources before publication.
