Nitesh Siwach Ends India’s 64-Year Wait, Reaches Asian Games Greco-Roman 97kg Final

Nitesh Siwach stormed into the Greco-Roman 97kg final at the Asian Games on Thursday after a commanding 9-0 technical superiority win over Mongolia’s Ganbaataryn Gankhuyag at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center. He has become the first Indian to reach an Asian Games Greco-Roman final since 1962, ending a 64-year wait.

Nitesh will face Japan’s Yuri Nakazato in the gold medal clash later in the day. If he beats Nakazato, he will become the first Indian to win an Asiad gold in Greco-Roman wrestling since Ganpat Andalkar.

Ganpat won gold at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta and remains the first and only Indian to win an Asian Games Greco-Roman gold.

Nitesh, the 2026 Asian Championships silver medallist looked in control in the semifinal against Hangzhou 2023 bronze medallist Ganbaatar and did not concede a single point. He had earlier beaten Turkmenistan’s Amanberdi Agamammedov 7-1 in the quarterfinal.

Mansi Bronze Chance

Mansi stays in medal contention.

She lost 0-6 in her semifinal to Japan’s Nonoka Ozaki and will now take on Mongolia’s Altjin Togtokh in the bronze medal bout later in the day. Ozaki is the Paris Olympics bronze medallist and the Hangzhou Asiad winner.

Mansi had opened her campaign with a 6-1 win over Irina Kuznetsova in the pre-quarterfinals. She then beat South Korea’s Jo Su-been 5-0 in the quarterfinals to reach the last four.

The semifinal proved tougher. Mansi ran into a stronger challenge from Ozaki and dropped into the bronze medal match after the 0-6 loss.

Other Indian Results

India’s other Greco-Roman wrestlers fell short.

Sumit lost his 60kg quarterfinal to Iran’s Sajjad Abbaspourragani on VPO1 after the contest ended 1-1. The narrow defeat ended his campaign.

Aman also exited in the quarterfinals, losing 0-9 to Qatar’s Shahin Badaghimofrad in the men’s 77kg category. He had earlier beaten Mongolia’s Borgil Tuvshinbaatar 8-6 in the pre-quarterfinals.

There was no route back for either wrestler. Sumit and Aman will not get a bronze-medal chance through repechage because the wrestlers who beat them did not reach the final.

India have already secured one Greco-Roman medal in Aich-Nagoya. Sunil Kumar won bronze in the men’s 87kg event on Wednesday.