World Wrestling Championships 2026: India’s Greco-Roman Campaign Ends With Just Two Wins

India’s Greco-Roman wrestling campaign at the 2026 World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, ended without a medal after nine of the country’s 10 wrestlers failed to register a victory. 

Lalit Sehrawat was the only Indian to win a bout, reaching the 55kg bronze medal contest before losing to Kazakhstan’s Iskhar Kurbayev.

The disappointing campaign exposed the gap between India’s continental-level performances and its ability to compete against the world’s leading Greco-Roman wrestlers. Despite individual promise in several weight categories, the Indian contingent could not translate its opportunities into sustained progress at the championships.

Lalit Sehrawat emerged as India’s sole winner in the Greco-Roman competition, making a determined attempt to secure a podium finish in the 55kg category. His campaign began with a 0-9 defeat to Iran’s Payam Ahmadi in the quarterfinals. Ahmadi’s progression through the tournament gave Sehrawat an opportunity to return through the repechage, where the Indian wrestler faced American Max Emiliano Nowry.

Sehrawat produced India’s only bout victory of the championships, defeating Nowry 7-0 to advance to the bronze medal contest. The performance offered a rare positive moment for the Indian team after a series of early exits across the weight divisions.

However, the challenge intensified against home favourite Kurbayev. The Kazakh wrestler controlled the encounter and secured a 9-0 victory by technical superiority, leaving Sehrawat in fifth place. Although Sehrawat fell short of a medal, his run demonstrated that India could still produce competitive performances when wrestlers executed their plans effectively. His fifth-place finish was the closest the contingent came to a podium result in Astana.

While several Indian wrestlers suffered decisive defeats, Sachin Sahrawat and Karanjit Singh came closest to advancing through tightly contested bouts. In the 67kg category, Sahrawat lost 5-6 to South Korea’s Hanjae Chung in the Round of 32. The narrow margin made the defeat particularly frustrating, as a single point separated the Indian wrestler from victory.

Sahrawat was unable to enter the repechage after Chung failed to progress far enough in the competition. His campaign therefore ended with his opening bout. Karanjit Singh also endured a close defeat in the 72kg category, losing 2-3 to Japan’s Rintaro Sogabe. The contest was decided by small margins, with Singh unable to convert his opportunities into the decisive scoring action needed to take the match.

Both results highlighted the importance of execution in Greco-Roman wrestling, where positional control, scoring from the par terre position and the ability to defend against an opponent’s turns can determine the outcome of closely fought contests.

Sunil Kumar and Joginder Rathee exit early.

India’s experienced wrestlers also struggled to make an impact. Sunil Kumar, who won bronze at the Asian Games, suffered a 0-9 defeat to Norway’s Exauce Mukubu in the 87kg category. Kumar was unable to establish control against his opponent and conceded points through successive ground attacks.

At 130 kg, Joginder Rathee faced Turkish heavyweight Riza Kayaalp, one of the most accomplished wrestlers in the discipline. Kayaalp dominated the encounter, winning 9-0 by technical superiority. The result underlined the challenge facing Indian wrestlers when confronted by opponents with extensive experience at the highest level. Rathee could not prevent Kayaalp from establishing control and converting his positional advantage into decisive scoring opportunities.

Other Indian wrestlers also exited without a win. Harsh lost 0-9 to Kyrgyzstan’s Kurmanbek Zhaparov in the 60kg category, while Sahil Kadyan went down to Bulgaria’s Edmond Nazaryan in the 63kg division.

Lovepreet Singh lost 0-8 to Uzbekistan’s Doniyorkhon Nakibov at 77 kg, Prince was beaten 1-3 by Serbia’s Viktor Nemes at 82 kg, and Nitesh Siwach suffered a 0-8 defeat against Germany’s Anton Vieweg in the 97 kg category.

The sequence of early exits left India without a wrestler in contention for a medal after Sehrawat’s bronze bout.

India’s performance in Astana highlights the work required to strengthen the country’s Greco-Roman programme. The discipline differs significantly from freestyle wrestling, with attacks below the waist prohibited and upper-body control, throws and ground techniques playing a central role.

The results suggest that Indian wrestlers need greater consistency in both standing exchanges and the par terre phase. The narrow losses suffered by Sahrawat and Karanjit Singh also show how small technical errors can decide matches at the international level.

India’s lack of depth across the 10 weight categories is another concern. With only one wrestler recording a victory, the campaign offered limited evidence of the team’s ability to sustain pressure against the leading nations.

Improving international exposure, specialist coaching and preparation against experienced Greco-Roman opponents will be important steps towards closing that gap. The priority must be to ensure that Indian wrestlers arrive at future championships better equipped to handle the physical and technical demands of the discipline.

India leave Astana without a medal

The conclusion of the Greco-Roman events leaves India with a disappointing return from the championships. Lalit Sehrawat’s victory over Nowry and his fifth-place finish provided the only significant progress, but even that run ended outside the medal positions.

For the remaining nine wrestlers, the tournament brought early elimination and valuable, if difficult, lessons about the standard required at the world level.

India will need to examine the results carefully and turn the experience into a more targeted preparation programme. The immediate outcome in Astana is clear: India’s Greco-Roman campaign ended without a medal, with just one bout victory across its 10-member contingent.