Wrestler Nitesh Siwach Wins Silver Medal at Asian Games

Indian wrestler Nitesh Siwach has won the silver medal in the men's 97kg Greco-Roman category at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. His achievement makes him the first Indian Greco-Roman grappler to reach the final since Ganpat Andalkar and Malwa Singh accomplished the feat in 1962.

The Journey

Nitesh suffered a severe knee injury that kept him away from the mat for more than 18 months, leading his father Anand and uncle Naveen to involve him in their dairy work. The 23-year-old and his family would ride a motorcycle at four in the morning to buy milk from nearby families in Jagsi near Gohana and sell it at their shop in Panipat. After recovering, Nitesh asked his family to give him six months to return to wrestling, eventually winning a cadet Asian silver in 2019, a U-23 Worlds bronze in 2022, and medals at the U-23 Asian championships in 2023 and 2024.

Tournament Path

On Thursday, Nitesh secured a 7-1 win over Turkmenistan's Amanberdi Agamammedov and followed it with a 9-0 technical superiority victory against Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist Gankhuyag Ganbaatar of Mongolia. However, he lost the final match to home favourite Yuri Nakazto with a score of 4-0.

Background

Nitesh was introduced to wrestling by his father, who took him to village dangals before enrolling him under coach Om Prakash Dahiya at Pratap Sports School in Kharkhoda. Dahiya advised Nitesh to switch to Greco-Roman wrestling because his opponents frequently grabbed his legs. To build his strength, Nitesh trained with a 100 to 120 kilogram dummy and studied videos of Olympic champion Ghasem Rezaei. The family spent most of their monthly earnings of 15,000 rupees on his diet, saving milk and ghee to send to him at the sports school and national camps.

Context

Greco-Roman wrestling is one of the main styles of amateur wrestling contested globally, including at the Olympics, where athletes are prohibited from holding opponents below the belt. India has historically secured fewer medals in Greco-Roman events compared to freestyle wrestling, making Nitesh's run to the final a notable milestone for the country's grappling history.