Sujeet Kalkal pulled off a stunning two-point throw in the dying moments of his semifinal to trump Japan’s Yuto Nishiuchi 3-2 and secure his place in the men’s freestyle 65kg title clash at the U23 World Championships on Sunday.
Kalkal trailed till the very end of the bout in which the Japanese did not let the Indian launch any attack but for the fag end.
Trailing 1-2 and just three seconds from the hooter, Kalkal went for a double leg attack and managed to throw Nishiuchi off balance for a winning move in the last-four clash.
Kalkal has never won a world title but has two U23 Asian titles (2022, 2025) and one U20 Asian Championship gold (2022).
Nishiuchi led 2-0 at the end of first period, scoring a point on pushout and passivity of his rival.
Kalkal got on board when Nishiuchi was put on clock. Kalkal made two attempts to make a move but the agile Japanese thwarted both attempts.
Nishiuchi had almost put his feet in the semifinal but Kalkal didn’t give up and finally got the decisive move, leaving his rival crestfallen.
Sujeet had bronze in the same championships last year and has bettered the colour of his medal.
He won his first two bouts by technical superiority — against Moldova’s Fiodor Ceavdari (12-2) and Poland’s Dominik Jakub (11-0).
He was trailing against Bashir Magomedov in the quarterfinal but eventually won 4-2 to make the semis.
Other Indians struggle
Shubham (61kg) lost his 1/8th round by technical superiority to Azerbaijan”s Jeyhun Allahverdiyev after winning his first bout on injury of his rival.
Ashish (86kg) provided some resistance to his Iranian rival Abolfazl Yaser Rahmani before losing the Qualification round 4-6.
In 97kg, Vicky put up a good show, winning by technical superiority against Uzbekistan”s Otabek Nazirboev (10-0). He then produced a great fight against Georgia”s Merab Suleimanishvili but lost the high-scoring 1/8 round 13-15.
Pravinder (74kg), Sumit Malik (57kg), Naveen Kumar (70kg), Chander Mohan (79kg) and Sachin (92kg) have already been eliminated.
India did not field any athlete in the 125kg weight class since the eligible candidates did not join the national camp and thus were not allowed to compete in trials
(With Inputs Form PTI)
