Indian wrestler Sujeet Kalkal on Thursday clinched the gold medal in the 65kg men’s freestyle category at the Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial 2025 wrestling tournament in Budapest, Hungary.
In the final of the 65kg men’s freestyle category, Sujeet delivered a clinical performance to defeat four-time European medallist Ali Rahimzade of Azerbaijan 5-1. His triumph marked India’s first gold medal in wrestling at any of the Ranking Series events this year. Earlier, Indian grapplers had returned empty-handed from the tournaments in Amman and Mongolia, according to Olympics.com.
In the first period of the final, Sujeet conceded an activity point, but he raised the tempo in the second period to complete two takedowns. He secured another activity point en route to a commanding victory in the gold medal bout.
Sujeet’s journey to the final was equally impressive. He began with a dominant 11-0 win over Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Islam Dudaev of Albania in the round of 16. He then overwhelmed European silver medallist Khamzat Arsamerzouev of France in the quarter-finals, before stamping his authority with a 6-1 win over Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia in the semi-finals.
India added another medal in the men’s 57kg category, where Rahul clinched bronze with a 4-0 victory over Germany’s Niklas Stechele. Earlier, he had defeated Kim Sung-gwon of the Republic of Korea 5-3 in the quarter-finals, before narrowly losing a hard-fought semi-final 7-6 to the USA’s Luke Joseph Lilledahl.
Meanwhile, India’s Udit and Vicky suffered defeats in the repechage rounds of the 61kg and 97kg divisions, respectively. The Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial in Budapest is the fourth and final wrestling Ranking Series tournament of the year.
Ranking points earned at this event will help wrestlers secure better seedings for the World Wrestling Championships, scheduled to be held in Zagreb, Croatia, in September later this year.
India fielded wrestlers in the men’s and women’s freestyle, as well as Greco-Roman, categories at the ongoing Budapest meet, which will conclude on Sunday.
(ANI)