CHENNAI: Wrestler Sujeet Kalkal stole the show at the 2026 Asian Games as he won India's first gold in the discipline after eight years. The top of the podium finish in the 65kg weight category also meant the freestyle wrestler from Haryana won the inaugural Raja Randhir Singh Award as the best male athlete of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) recently instituted the award to felicitate its best athletes.
Naturally, Sujeet has been cynosure of all eyes since his arrival in the country. The wrestler, however, now wants to focus on the upcoming Senior World Championships scheduled in Astana, Kazakhstan from October 24 to November 1. "This is a very important competition, and it's going to be extremely tough, even tougher than the Olympics. In wrestling, the World Championships are often harder than the Asian Games or Olympics," Sujeet said during an interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Wednesday.
World No 1 Rahman Mousa Amouzadkhalili from Iran and Japan's Kotaro Kiyooka, whom Sujeet defeated in the Asian Games semifinal, are expected to be the Indian wrestler's opponents in the Worlds. Sujeet, however, said he focuses on his game rather than thinking about the opponents. "We don't prepare specifically or differently for different events; we analyse the mistakes from past competitions and work on them so we don't repeat them. Returning from the Games brings some distractions with felicitation programmes and other events, but we will try to stay focussed and win gold for the country at the World Championships as well."
The 23-year-old Haryana wrestler also admitted that he has to work on a few areas including his attacking skills while being in ground position. "Primarily, I need to work more on the frequent situations that arise during my bouts. As for ground position, both my foreign coach Shako Bentinidis and coach Kuldeep Singh pointed out that while my ground position is strong, I wasn't actively working on it. In upcoming competitions, I will attack from the ground position as well and defend better."
Sujeet could not compete at the 2022 edition, which was held a year later, as his famed counterpart Bajrang Punia was given a direct entry to the Games by the ad-hoc committee, which was governing the sport then in the absence of the de-recognised Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). He also moved the Delhi High Court seeking selection trials but was not given relief. The wrestler, while speaking on the incident, said he is looking ahead rather than getting stuck in the past. He also has a message for others, who could face a similar predicament. "If I had to give a message, I would say keep faith in yourself and keep working hard. God's justice may be delayed, but it is never denied; that is the truth. Also, if we keep getting stuck in what happened in 2023, neither our present nor our future will be good. Let go of what is gone — that's my belief."
Sujeet also thanked Target Olympic Podium Scheme and Sports Authority of India for facilitating exposure trips, which eventually helped him corner glory. "First of all, I want to thank TOPS and SAI. Because of them, we get foreign exposure and learn so much. The Wrestling Federation of India and TOPS play a crucial role in the medals we win. Training in Russia alongside World Championships and Olympic medallists gave us great exposure and experience."
