Sujeet Kalkal’s biggest threat at the Asian Games was supposed to be the man missing from the draw.

Rahman Amouzad, the Iranian world champion and the No. 1 wrestler in the world at 65kg, was expected to stand between the Indian and an Asian Games gold medal. But with Amouzad absent from the entry list for Aichi-Nagoya, the equation has suddenly changed.

Not completely. Because the man Sujeet may now have to beat for gold is the wrestler who has already beaten Amouzad when it mattered most.

Story continues below.
Subscribe to see fewer ads.

Kotaro Kiyooka will wrestle at the Asian Games in his home country. He is Japan’s Olympic champion, the man who stunned Amouzad in the final in Paris two years ago, and, with the Iranian out of the field, the biggest obstacle in Sujeet’s path.

For the Indian, it is an opportunity — but not quite the open road that Amouzad’s absence might suggest.

Sujeet has spent the past year making a convincing case that he belongs among the world’s best at 65kg. The 23-year-old went into the Asian Championships in Bishkek earlier this year unbeaten in 2026 after gold medals at the Zagreb Open and the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series, before going on to win the continental title.

Story continues below this ad

The Asian Games, however, could present him with a test of an entirely different order.

At the Asian Championships, Japan was represented by Takara Suda, who had moved up from 61kg. At the Asian Games, Japan will have its Olympic champion. And Kiyooka is no ordinary home favourite.

His gold medal in Paris was one of the surprises of the Olympic wrestling competition. Having first emerged from Japan’s famously unforgiving domestic system — a process that required him to beat former world and Olympic champion Takuto Otoguro for his place — Kiyooka went all the way to the final and defeated Amouzad 10-3 to win gold.

The result matters even more now.

Amouzad’s absence removes the division’s most accomplished active wrestler from Sujeet’s side of the equation. But it leaves behind the one man who has proved, on the biggest stage, that Amouzad can be beaten.

Story continues below this ad

That makes a potential Sujeet-Kiyooka clash the bout that could define India’s 65kg campaign. Kiyooka known for his counter lift and cartwheel sequence, will run into Sujeet’s speed.

There are, of course, other complications. The Asian Championships showed just how deep the continental field can be. Uzbekistan’s Umidjon Jalolov arrived in Bishkek as a world bronze medallist, while wrestlers from Kazakhstan — Nachyn Kuular — and Iran — Abbas Ebrahimzadeh — continue to be among the serious threats.

But for Sujeet, the hierarchy has become considerably clearer. Amouzad’s name is missing. Kiyooka’s is not.

And that is significant for another reason. The Asian Games will be held in Japan. If Sujeet is to win what could become one of India’s most significant gold medals of the Games, he may have to beat an Olympic champion in front of his home crowd.

Story continues below this ad

It would also be a fitting measure of just how far Sujeet has come. Not long ago, India’s 65kg division belonged to Bajrang Punia, the last male wrestler to win an Asian Games gold, in 2018. Sujeet’s rise has coincided with the search for a successor in one of Indian wrestling’s most successful categories. His results this year — culminating in the Asian title — have put him firmly in that conversation.

His style of wrestling has won him many admirers, including the new foreign coach Shako Bendinitis. Most Indians, including Bajrang, have relied on stamina more than technique. They aimed to outlast their opponents in a bout. Sujeet is the opposite of that — he puts into practice all the technical drills learnt over the years.

Shako hailed him as an ‘amazing wrestler’, who, ‘with a little bit of tactical advice, with a little bit more power’, will be a dangerous wrestler at the Los Angeles Olympics.

The Asian Games will test those credentials. And it will be his biggest test so far.

Story continues below this ad

The absence of the world No. 1 may have, on paper, made the gold medal more attainable. But the road to it may still run through an Olympic champion. And in Nagoya, Kotaro Kiyooka will be wrestling in his own backyard.