Sujeet Kalkal led India’s charge with a gold in the 65kg weight division as the men’s freestyle wrestlers won three medals on the opening day of the Zagreb Open 2026 wrestling tournament in Croatia.
Aman Sehrawat, Paris 2024 bronze medallist, won a silver in the 61kg category, while Abhimanyou settled for the 70kg bronze medal.
Sujeet, an Under-23 world champion, was flawless in the 65kg division, clinching the title without conceding a single point. The 23-year-old Indian wrestler capped off his run with a 3-0 win over the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Peyman Ali Nemati in the final.
In the quarterfinals, Sujeet overpowered Khamzat Arsamerzouev of France via technical superiority before getting the better of the two-time Pan American champion Joseph McKenna of the USA 11-0 in the semifinals.
Aman Sehrawat, meanwhile, secured his career’s third medal at the Zagreb Open, this time via the Nordic system. Aman, the youngest Indian to win an Olympic medal, posted wins over Iran’s Reza Hossein Momenijoujadeh (12-2) and Georgia’s Giorgi Goniashvili (10-0), and received a walkover from Palestine’s Ali Aburmaila. An 8-0 defeat at the hands of USA’s Austin DeSanto meant the Aman finished second.
In the 70kg bracket, Abhimanyou opened with a commanding 10-0 win over the USA’s Tyler Kasak in the quarterfinals but fell 10-0 in the semis to Iran’s Sina Khalili. He recovered well in the bronze medal match, beating Ian Parker of the USA 6-3 to secure a podium finish.
In the 57kg division, Ankush battled through repechage to reach the bronze medal match but was defeated 10-0 by Iran’s Milad Valizadeh. Atish Todkar exited in the qualification round in the same category.
The 86kg category saw Mukul Dahiya fall short of a medal, losing 6-5 to Iran’s Ali Savadkouhi in the bronze medal playoff. The other wrestlers to return empty-handed were: Sandeep Singh Mann (86kg), Deepak (74kg) and Chandermohan (74kg).
Olympian and two-time World Wrestling Championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal will be in action on Saturday.
