Sujeet Kalkal Shines with Gold at U23 World Championships

Indian wrestler Sujeet Kalkal secured a gold medal at the U23 World Championships, triumphing in the men's freestyle 65kg final with a decisive 10-0 victory over Uzbekistan's Umidjon Jalolov. The match concluded swiftly, with the referee awarding Kalkal the win for his undeniable dominance. This win marks Kalkal's first world title, adding to his prior achievements of two U23 Asian titles in 2022 and 2025, as well as an U20 Asian Championship gold in 2022. His progress from last year's bronze demonstrates his evolving prowess on the international stage.

Sujeet Kalkal beats World Championships Umidjon Jalolov (UZB) by superiority10-0 to win U-23 World Championships in the marqee men's 65kg freestyle category. Sujeet becomes only the third Indian men's wrestler after Aman Sehrawat and Chirag Chikkara (57kg) to win the U-23 worlds pic.twitter.com/KwpvHISpBB

— jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) October 27, 2025

Kalkal's road to the gold saw impressive victories, including technical wins over Fiodor Ceavdari of Moldova and Dominik Jakub of Poland. In a nail-biting quarterfinal, he came from behind to defeat Bashir Magomedov with a 4-2 score and overcame Japan's Yuto Nishiuchi 3-2 in the semifinals by executing a strategic two-point throw.