Nagoya, Oct 3:
India’s Sujeet Kalkal clinched the men’s 65kg freestyle wrestling gold at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Friday, completing a remarkable comeback in the final against Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev. Sujeet overturned a 2-9 deficit to win 10-9, scoring eight unanswered points in a dramatic finish.
The 23-year-old had earlier produced another major upset by defeating reigning Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka of Japan in the semifinal. The bout ended 3-3, but Sujeet was declared the winner on criteria after scoring the bigger scoring move. He had begun his campaign with a 13-3 technical superiority win over Afghanistan’s Sayed Omar Zazai before defeating Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi by technical superiority without conceding a point.
The gold is Sujeet’s first at the Asian Games and caps an outstanding 12 months in which he has also won the U23 World Championships, Asian Championships, Zagreb Open and Tirana titles. His only setback this year came at the Mongolian Open, where a knee injury forced him to withdraw. He was also not allowed to challenge Bajrang Punia in the trials for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and subsequently challenged the decision in court.