Sunil Kumar wins 87kg Greco-Roman bronze to claim second Asian Games medal; Nisha Dahiya eliminated
Sunil Kumar won the bronze medal in the men's 87kg Greco‑Roman event at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday (September 30, 2026), becoming the first Indian Greco‑Roman wrestler to secure two Asian Games medals, while Nisha Dahiya exited the women's 68kg competition without a podium finish.
Sunil defeated Philippines' Roberts Callum Johnston 9-0 by technical superiority in the bronze-medal bout, and the 27-year-old Haryana wrestler had earlier taken bronze at the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games. His Hangzhou medal had ended a 13-year wait for India in Greco‑Roman; Ravinder Singh and Sunil Kumar Rana had been the previous Indian medallists in the style at the 2010 Guangzhou Games. Sunil reached the bronze contest after losing his semifinal to Japan's Taizo Yoshida.
In the match for third place, Sunil used a two-on-one control to lock Johnston's right arm and produced two takedowns to open a 4-0 lead, then put his opponent in the par terre position and converted further scoring moves to finish the contest inside the first period. The technical-superiority victory was completed without Johnston earning a point.
Sunil opened his campaign with a technical-superiority win over Tajikistan's Muhammad Sultonzoda, finishing that match quickly after forcing a par terre position and executing consecutive gut-wrench turns. In the semifinal, Taizo Yoshida led 6-0 after the first period and added five more points to advance to the gold-medal match, giving Sunil no scoring opportunities in that bout.
After the medal, Sunil told PTI: "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 " He added: "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 told PTI.
Coach Hargobind Singh praised Sunil's execution of the grip: "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. He tried to use it against the Japanese also and even had a grip on his waist but left his arm a bit loose to let him effect a shoulder throw," he told PTI. "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 added.
Nisha Dahiya lost both of her women's 68kg matches and exited early after going down to North Korea's Pak in the round of 16 and then failing to capitalise in the repechage. In the opening bout she led 2-0 before Pak executed a four-point move to end the first period 4-2; in the second period Nisha scored a two-pointer to level the match but Pak was declared the winner on criteria for the bigger scoring move. The report notes that Nisha had lost to Pak at the Paris Olympics quarterfinals after suffering an elbow injury in that bout, when she had been leading 8-2 but eventually went down 8-10. Nisha's repechage match ended with a loss "by fall" to South Korea's Park Hyeonyeong.
Sunil has stated he will attempt to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics through the Asian Qualifier, and India will have further Greco‑Roman entries in action on Thursday with Aman (77kg), Sumit (60kg) and Nitesh (97kg), while Mansi Ahlawat will compete in the women's 62kg; the coach said he expects Nitesh to have a favourable route to a medal.
