Sunil wins second Asian Games medal with bronze; Nisha Dahiya exits empty-handed

Sunil Kumar became the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win two Asian Games medals after claiming bronze in the men's 87kg category, while Nisha Dahiya endured a disappointing opening day of the wrestling competition with a medal-less campaign on Wednesday.

Sunil secured his second successive Asian Games bronze with a 9-0 technical superiority win over the Philippines' Roberts Callum Johnston in the bronze-medal bout.

The Haryana wrestler quickly established his dominance, locking Johnston's right arm and executing two takedowns to take a 4-0 lead. He then put the defensive Filipino in the par terre position and added more points through successive moves to finish the contest in the first period.

The 27-year-old had won bronze at the Hangzhou Games in 2023, ending India's 13-year wait for a Greco-Roman wrestling medal.

Before that, Ravinder Singh and Sunil Kumar Rana had won bronze medals at the 2010 Guangzhou Games.

Sunil's latest medal came after he lost his semifinal to Japan's Taizo Yoshida by technical superiority. He had begun his campaign with a technical superiority win over Tajikistan's Muhammad Sultonzoda.

Against Sultonzoda, Sunil capitalised after his opponent was penalised for defensive wrestling and put in the par terre position, executing consecutive gut-wrench moves to finish the bout quickly.

Yoshida, though, proved a different challenge in the semifinal, taking a 6-0 lead in the first period before adding five more points. Sunil could not create a scoring opportunity and lost by technical superiority.

"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.

Coach Hargobind Singh praised Sunil for making better use of his "two-on-one" grip, which had previously failed to produce enough scoring opportunities.

"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," Hargobind told PTI.

He said Sunil had also tried the grip against Yoshida but left his arm loose, allowing the Japanese wrestler to execute a shoulder throw.

"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 said.

Aman (77kg), Sumit (60kg) and Nitesh (97kg) will compete in Greco-Roman wrestling on Thursday, while Mansi Ahlawat will represent India in the women's 62kg category.

Nisha Dahiya knocked out

Nisha, meanwhile, squandered leads in both her bouts in the women's 68kg category to bow out without a medal.

In her opening bout, Nisha lost to North Korea's Pak in the round of 16 before getting another opportunity through the repechage after Pak reached the final.

Nisha had taken a 2-0 lead but Pak responded with a four-point move to finish the opening period 4-2 ahead.

The North Korean had also defeated Nisha in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics, where the Indian had led 8-2 before suffering an elbow injury and eventually losing 8-10.

Nisha fought back in the second period, scoring a two-pointer to level the Asian Games bout. Neither wrestler could score again, and Pak was declared the winner on criteria for executing the bigger scoring move.

With Pak reaching the final, Nisha entered the repechage but could not make use of the opportunity, losing by fall to South Korea's Park Hyeonyeong to end her campaign.