India’s Asian Games-bound Greco-Roman wrestlers Sunil Kumar and Nitesh Kumar won gold medals in their respective categories at the Ulaanbaatar Open 2026 wrestling tournament in Mongolia on Thursday.
Former Asian champion Sunil Kumar clinched the gold medal in the men’s 87kg category after beating Kyrgyzstan’s Azat Salidinov 4-3 in the final.
It was Sunil Kumar’s first medal at a Ranking Series since the gold medal at the Zouhaier Sghaier 2022 in Tunisia. Earlier this year, the Indian wrestler won bronze at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Kyrgyzstan.
Sunil opened his campaign with a walkover win against Mongolia’s Turbold Ganbold in the quarter-finals before edging Venezuela’s two-time Pan American champion Luis Eduardo Avendano Rojas 3-3 on criteria in the semi-finals.
Nitesh Kumar, who won silver at the Asian Wrestling Championships earlier this year, bagged the 97kg gold medal after defeating Kazakhstan’s Nurassyl Amanaly 13-9 in the final.
The Indian wrestler began with a 3-1 win over Venezuela’s Juan Leonardo Diaz Blanco in the quarter-finals and followed it up with a 4-1 victory against Mongolia’s Gankhuyag Ganbaatar in the semi-finals.
The gold medal marked Nitesh Kumar’s second successive podium finish at the Ulaanbaatar Open after winning silver at last year’s edition.
Sunil Kumar and Nitesh Kumar were among the six Asian Games-bound Indian wrestlers competing at the Ulaanbaatar Open 2026.
Mansi Ahlawat (women’s 62kg), Priya Malik (women’s 72kg) and Mukul Dahiya (men’s freestyle 86kg) will be in action later in the competition, while Aman (Greco-Roman 77kg) missed out on a medal on Thursday.
The other Indian Greco-Roman grapplers in action on Thursday failed to secure medals.
Asian Championships 2026 silver medallist Lalit Sehrawat (55kg), Karanjit Singh (67kg), Sachin Sahrawat (67kg), Anil (72kg) and Ankit Gulia (77kg) all finished outside the podium places in their respective divisions.
The Ulaanbaatar Open is the third United World Wrestling Ranking Series event of the season.
Greco-Roman action will continue on Friday alongside the start of the women’s wrestling competitions.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/ulaanbaatar-open-2026-wrestling-india-greco-roman-day-1-results
