Indian wrestler Sunil Kumar celebrates after winning the bronze medal in the men’s 87kg Greco-Roman wrestling event at the Asian Games 2026, in Nagoya, Japan. Kumar defeated Philippines’ Roberts Callum Johnston 9-0 to become the first Indian wrestler to secure two Asian Games medals in Greco-Roman wrestling.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Sunil Kumar became the first Indian Greco Roman wrestler to win two Asian Games medal after clinching a bronze in the men’s 87kg event but Nisha Dahiya endured a medal-less campaign on the opening day of the wrestling competition here Wednesday (September 30, 2026).
Sunil assured his podium place with a technical superiority win (9-0)over Philippines’ Roberts Callum Johnston, who was no match to the strength and technical skill of the Indian.
Locking his rival’s right arm, Sunil effected two take downs to quickly open up a 4-0 lead. A defensive Johnston was put on ground in ‘Par Terre’ position from where Sunil made more scoring moves to finish the bout in the first period itself.
Sunil had won a bronze in Hangzhou 2023 Games, ending a 13-year wait for India for medal in the Greco Roman style.
Before that Ravinder Singh and Sunil Kumar Rana had won bronze in 2010 Guangzhou Games.
The 27-year-old Haryana wrestler was left to fight for a bronze medal after losing his semifinal by technical superiority to Japan’s Taizo Yoshida.
This was after he began with a confident technical superiority win over Tajikistan’s Muhammad Sultonzoda.
Against Sultonzoda, the Indian finished the job in a jiffy after his rival was put on a ‘par terre’ position for being defensive. Sunil made full use of the advantageous ground position to employ consecutive gut wrench moves.
In the last-four bout, Yoshida led 6-0 after the first period and added five more points to move to the gold medal match, not giving a single scoring opportunity to Sunil.
“I am happy but not satisfied because I already have a bronze medal at Asian Games. I made a mistake against the Japanese and paid the price. I used strength more than technique ” Sunil told PTI.
“Coach Hargobind had studied my opponents well and we followed a strategy. Credit to him. I will now try to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics through the Asian Qualifier,” he added.
Hargobind Singh praised Sunil for executing the ‘two-on-one’ grip well.
“He used to bring this ‘two-on-one’ grip into the bouts but struggled to convert that into scores. Here he did well to score points, so well done. He tried to use it against the Japanese also and even had a grip on his waist but left his arm a bit loose to let him effect a shoulder throw,” he told PTI.
“He lost points on counter. We will work on these mistakes. We have a very good chance in 97kg tomorrow. We are expecting Nitesh to win a medal. He has a good path to final,” the coach added.
Aman (77kg), Sumit (60kg) and Nitesh (97kg) will be in action in Greco Roman while Mansi Ahlawat will be on mat in women’s 62kg on Thursday.
Nisha Dahiya knocked out
However, disappointment was in store for Nisha Dahiya, who blew away lead in her both women’s 68kg bouts to make an early exit.
In her opening bout, Nisha lost to North Korea’s Pak in the 1/8 round and later the repechage round to bow out.
Nisha had moved ahead 2-0 but Pak executed a four-pointer to end the first period with a 4-2 lead.
Incidentally, Nisha had lost to Pak at the Paris Olympics quarterfinals also after suffering an injury. Nisha was leading 8-2 in that bout but left the mat in tears due to an elbow injury as she lost 8-10.
In the second period, Nisha got a two pointer to level the match. No wrestler could score a point after that and Pak was declared winner on criteria (scoring bigger move).
Pak reached the final to open a repechage route for Nisha but the Indian could not utilise the opportunity, losing ”by fall” to South Korea’s Park Hyeonyeong.
Published – October 01, 2026 04:06 am IST
