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Asian Games 2026 is to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. This continental competition will start from 19th September and will continue till 4th October. In the upcoming Asian Games, India has hopes of gold in wrestling from Aman Sehrawat and Akhil Panghal. Olympic bronze medalist Aman has booked the ticket for Aichi-Nagoya by defeating Rahul Deswal in the trials. The latter secured a place in the Asian Games by defeating Meenakshi Goyat in the finals of the trials.

Why is there hope for peace?

23 year old Aman Sehrawat will compete in the 57 kg freestyle event. He is considered to be India's biggest hope. Aman won the bronze medal in Paris Olympics 2024. He is the youngest wrestler to win an Olympic medal in wrestling. Aman had won bronze in the last Asian Games held in Hangzhou.

He recently won the gold medal in the Budapest Ranking Series. He started his campaign with a 10-0 technical victory over Nikoloz Bochorishvili of Georgia in the 57kg freestyle event and then defeated Olympian Meirambek Kartabay of Kazakhstan 10-3 in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-finals, Aman defeated current European champion Islam Bazarganov of Azerbaijan 11-0 and in the final he defeated Robert Dingashvili of Georgia 13-3 on the basis of technical superiority. He won 3 out of 4 matches on the basis of technical superiority. Aman is in excellent form and also has experience in big competitions, making him a big contender for a medal in the 57 kg category.

Will the color of the final Panghal medal be changed?

22-year-old female wrestler Anant Panghal also won the bronze medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games. This time she will enter with the intention of changing the color of the medal. She has been Under-20 World Champion twice. She has also won bronze twice in the Senior World Wrestling Championship. He will face strong rivals in the finals in Aichi-Nagoya but his experience on the big stage puts him ahead of the rest.

Who else is the contender for the medal?

Deepak Punia will present a challenge in the 97 kg category. He won the silver medal in the 86 kg category in the Hangzhou Asian Games. Deepak is entering a different weight category this time. After changing the weight category, the challenge is big for him but experience will be in his favor. There are also expectations from Sujit Kalkal in 65 kg category. Sagar Jaglan is a medal contender in the 74 kg category.

Apart from the final in the women's category, there are hopes of medals from Nisha Dahiya and Mansi Ahlawat. Nisha Dahiya will present the Indian challenge in the 68 kg category, while Mansi will present the Indian challenge in the 62 kg category. This is also a chance for young Priya Malik (76 kg) to prove herself on the big stage.