India’s Greco-Roman wrestlers won two medals on the second day of the Asian Wrestling Championships 2026 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday, with Lalit bagging the silver in the 55kg division and Sunil Kumar earning the 87kg bronze.
The 23-year-old Lalit, 12th in the 55kg Greco-Roman rankings, was beaten 9-0 by world No. 7 Ikhtiyor Botirov of Uzbekistan in the final. This was Lalit’s first senior medal at the continental meet.
In the semi-finals on Monday, Lalit, who also won the bronze medal in the Muhamet Malo Wrestling meet last month and is a U23 Asian Championship bronze medallist, beat the People’s Republic of China’s Huoying Shi 11-3.
Former Asian champion Sunil Kumar, meanwhile, won his sixth senior medal at the continental meet after defeating Uzbekistan’s Mukhammadkodir Rasulov 5-4.
Sunil Kumar lost his semi-final against Gholamreza Farokhisenjani of the Islamic Republic of Iran 8-0 on Monday to enter the bronze medal bout.
Sunil won the silver medal in 2019 and ended India’s 27-year-long wait for a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Asian Championships in 2020. He won bronze in 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026.
In the 77kg Greco-Roman bronze medal match, Aman suffered a narrow 15-14 loss against the Republic of Korea’s Yeonghun Noh. Aman fought back from a 12-7 deficit at the end of the first round but fell short by a point.
In the semi-finals on Monday, Aman went down against Zagreb Open gold medallist Ali Oskou of Iran.
India, however, will have more shots at medals in Greco-Roman wrestling on Wednesday.
Nitesh reached the final of the 97kg category. The Indian wrestler, who had bagged the bronze medal last year, defeated Zegang Wang of China 7-2 in the semi-finals and will take on defending champion Mohammadhadi Saravi of Iran for the gold medal.
India will also have a chance to earn a bronze medal in 82kg with Prince set to face Didar Ammanazarov of Turkmenistan. The 20-year-old Indian wrestler lost 10-0 against Iran’s Mohammadamin Hosseini in the semi-finals.
Sachin Sahrawat (67kg) will also have a shot at the bronze medal after he managed to get in the repechage round. He will face China’s Ji Leng on Wednesday.
With two medals on Tuesday and another medal confirmed on Wednesday, India have already bettered their count of two Greco-Roman medals from the 2025 edition.
A total of 30 Indian wrestlers – 10 each for women’s, men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman categories – are competing at the continental championships. Women’s freestyle wrestling will get underway on Wednesday.
Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat is also part of the Indian wrestling squad and will begin his campaign on Saturday.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/asian-wrestling-championships-2026-india-day-2-results
