Nitesh Siwach takes silver in men’s Greco‑Roman 97kg at Asian Games in Nagoya

India’s Nitesh Siwach claimed the silver medal in the men’s Greco‑Roman 97kg at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Thursday, October 1, losing 4-0 to Japan’s Yuri Nakazato in the final at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center. The 23-year-old from Haryana finished second, securing India’s first Greco‑Roman silver at the Asian Games since 1962.

India had previously collected four Greco‑Roman medals at the Asian Games, including two by Sunil Kumar; Sunil clinched his second consecutive Asian Games bronze at the Aichi‑Nagoya Games after beating the Philippines’ Callum Johnston Roberts in the men’s 87kg bronze medal match. The last Greco‑Roman golds for India came at the 1962 Jakarta Games when Malwa Singh (52kg) and Ganpat Andhalkar (97+kg) won titles.

Siwach entered Nagoya as one of the tournament favourites after winning silver at the Asian Championships earlier this year. He beat Turkmenistan’s Amanberdi Agamammedov 7-1 in the quarter-finals and followed that with a 9-0 semi-final victory over Mongolia’s Gankhuyag Ganbaatar before falling 4-0 to Nakazato in the final.

Reflecting on his medal, Siwach said: “Honestly, I still can’t believe it, I have won a silver medal at the Asian Games. My father always told me there was no looking back once I started this journey, that I had to bring home a medal, and today, I did it for him. “No one from my weight category had ever won a medal here before, so there was a lot of pressure, but I trusted my training and gave everything I had. I am so thankful to Inspire Institute of Sport, whatever I needed, travel, nutrition, physiotherapy, they were always there for me. Maine apne desh ka Tiranga lehra diya,” said Nitesh.

Other Indian competitors failed to change the country’s Greco‑Roman gold drought: Sumit Dalal and Aman Baroniya both exited in the quarter-finals. In women’s events, Mansi Ahlawat lost the bronze medal bout in the women’s freestyle 62kg, going down 5-2 to Mongolia’s Altjin Togtokh after earlier victories over Kazakhstan’s Irina Kuznetsova and South Korea’s Subeen Jo and a 6-0 semi-final defeat by Japan’s Nonoka Ozaki.

With Siwach’s silver ending a 64-year wait for a Greco‑Roman silver but no golds added, India remains without a Greco‑Roman Asian Games title; following quarter‑final exits for other contenders, the country will have to wait another four years to try to end that gold drought.