Indian wrestlers, especially in men’s freestyle, have got a slightly tricky draw ahead of the start of wrestling bouts at the Asian Games 2026.

Men’s Freestyle

2024 Olympic bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat has a potential round one clash against fellow Olympic bronze medallist Gulomjon Abdullaev or Yamato Ogawa of Japan.

If Aman goes past round 1, he has a potential quarter-final against N Aitanov of Kazakhstan and semi-final against Ali Hossein Momenijoujadeh of Iran.

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In the men’s 65 kg category, two medal favourites, Sujeet Kalkal of India and Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka are in the same half. Sujeet has a potential quarter-final against Mohammadreza Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi of Iran and the big test in the semis against Kiyooka who will be backed by the home crowd.

Sagar Jaglan is in the toughest half in men’s 74 kg as he will have to go through reigning Asian Champion Tumur Ochir Tulga in the first round. Barring an upset, it will be tough for Sagar.

Deepak Punia has an easy start in men’s 97 kg category against Zhou Junpeng of China and avoids top contenders Arash Yoshida of Japan and Amirali Azarpira of Iran till final.

Women’s wrestling

India’s biggest medal hope Antim Panghal has a potential semi-final clash against Zhang Jin of China. Both wrestlers have locked horns twice before and Antim has prevailed in both the bouts which were very closely contested.

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Contenders Moe Kiyooka of Japan and Choe Hyo Gyong of North Korea in the other half.

Young Dipanshi faces Yui Susaki in the first round of the 50 kg category and will have to create a massive upset to have any chance at a medal.

In the 57 kg category, Manisha Bhanwala has a potential clash against unbeaten Akari Fujinami of Japan and that will be very tough for her.

Nisha Dahiya will be up against Park Gol Sum of North Korea in the first round, the very wrestler against whom Nisha was injured in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nisha has a good chance of finishing on the podium if she gets past the North Korean.

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Men’s Greco Roman

Indian men’s Greco Roman side is depleted after two withdrawals following doping cases in men’s 67 kg and 130 kg.

Two of India’s top medal prospects, Nitesh Siwach (97 kg) and Sunil Kumar (87 kg) have got fairly manageable draws.

Nitesh faces Amanberdi Agamammedov of Turkmenistan in the first round and has a potential next round clash with Gankhuyag Ganbaatar of Mongolia. He has defeated both the wrestlers in the past.

Sunil has a potential clash with Taizo Yoshida of Japan in the semi-final and has a fairly easy rounds before that.

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In the 60 kg category, Sumit Dalal has got a packed half with World championship silver medallist Alisher Ganiev of Uzbekistan and 2023 Asian Games silver medallist Ayata Suzuki in the same half.