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Sujeet Kalkal started India's campaign at the Zagreb Open 2026 with a gold medal in the 65 kg division, with the men's freestyle wrestlers capturing three medals on the opening day on Wednesday.
Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Aman Sehrawat and Abhimanyu settled for silver (61 kg) and bronze (70 kg), respectively, according to Olympics.com. Sujeet is a world champion at the under-23 level and had an unforgettable run towards the title, without dropping a single point. The 23-year-old secured a 3-0 win over Iran's Peyman Ali Nemati in the final. He also outclassed Khamzat Arsamerzouev of France via technical superiority in the quarter-finals and in the semifinals, eliminating two-time Pan American champion Joseph McKenna of the USA by 11-0. Aman's silver was his third medal at Zagreb in his career. The youngest Indian Olympic medalist got victories over Reza Hossein Momenijoujadeh (12-2) and Georgia's Giorgi Goniashvili (10-0) and had received a walkover from Palestine's Ali Aburmaila. In the title clash against the USA's Austin DeSanto, he lost 8-0 and had to settle for a silver. Coming to the 70kg competition, Abhimanyu started off with an incredible 10-pointer-to-none win over USA's Tyler Kasak in the quarter-finals but fell 10-0 in the semis to Iran's Sina Khalili. But he came back to form just in time for the bronze medal clash, outclassing USA's Ian Parker 6-3. Coming to the men's 57 kg division, Ankush reached the bronze bout through repechage, but lost to Iran's Milad Valizadeh by 10-0 and also Atish Todkar exited in the qualification round in the same weight category. In 86 kg, Mukul Dahiya lost to Iran's Ali Savadkouhi 6-5 in the bronze medal playoff, denying India another prize. Sandeep Singh Mann (86kg), Deepak (74kg) and Chandermohan (74kg) failed to make a mark. Olympian and two-time World Championships bronze medalist Antim Panghal will be in action on Saturday. (ANI)
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