How a missed chance became motivation: Sujeet Kalkal’s rise in wrestling

Whenever Indian wrestler Sujeet Kalkal feels short of motivation, he pulls out his phone and looks at the wallpaper. The 22-year-old has had his share of wrestling highlights recently. In July, Sujeet won India’s first gold medal of the year at the UWW (United World Wrestling) Ranking Series in Budapest, defeating Olympic bronze medallist Islam Dudaev of Albania, two-time Olympian Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia, and four-time European medallist Ali Rahimzade of Azerbaijan in the men’s 65kg division.

In a strong field, Sujeet scored 33 points while conceding just two across four matches — a result that marks him as a potential medal contender at the World Championships in September.

The picture on Sujeet’s phone, however, isn’t from Budapest. It’s from Istanbul, taken during last year’s World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament, where he experienced one of the lowest moments of his career. Having won the selection trials in India, Sujeet had hoped to qualify for the Paris Games at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jordan. But in a turn of misfortune, his connecting flight to Amman was delayed due to a record-breaking flood in Dubai.

At the World Qualifiers — a much tougher field — Sujeet made it to the semifinals, needing just one more win to book his Olympic ticket. But he fell short. He lost 6-1 to Mongolia’s Tulga Tomor-Ochiryn, and then came agonisingly close against World Champion Zain Retherford of the USA, losing 2-2 on criteria. (Sujeet lost because Retherford scored the final takedown)

It’s a picture of the match against Tulga that Sujeet glances at every time he picks up his phone. While most athletes might have been bitterly disappointed about missing out on making their Olympic debut, Sujeet sees things differently. “Although I lost, I consider these two defeats to be the most important matches for me. I might have qualified for the Olympics had I somehow won, but I don’t think I was mentally ready then. I learned so much from my two losses. The fact that I lost just 2-2 against a world champion gave me a lot of motivation. I realised how much more I had to work on,” he says.

But that’s not the only thing atypical about India’s latest prospect in men’s freestyle wrestling. He’s a relatively late bloomer in the sport, only seriously pursuing it since the last five years. He once had dreams of being an engineer and routinely peppers his conversation with English.

Sujeet might have been expected to take to wrestling as a matter of tradition. He traces his roots to Imlota, a village in Haryana’s Bhiwani district with a strong wrestling culture. His father, Dayanand, is a former national wrestling champion and even competed at the 2005 World Championships in the Greco-Roman category.

Sujeet, however, wasn’t pushed into the sport. Although he started going to the village akhara with his father from the age of six, he, unlike many Indian wrestlers, was expected to give equal importance to his studies. Unable to focus solely on wrestling, Sujeet’s career features no major success at the cadet (Under-17) or junior (U-19) levels.

“He scored over 90 per cent in his Class 12 Board Exams. Because he excelled in his studies, I didn’t want to push him to wrestle the way he had to if he had to win at the age-group levels. Kushti karwane aur sikhane me farak hai (there’s a kind of wrestling you do when you want to learn the sport, and a kind you do when you have to win). While Sujeet was in school, I just wanted him to learn,” says Dayanand.

It was only after Sujeet graduated from school that he decided to focus solely on becoming a wrestler. “I was in the non-medical stream and initially thought about preparing for the JEE (Joint Entrance Exam). I even gave a few mock tests. But after my Class 12 exams, my father said I had to choose which direction I wanted to go. I finally decided I wanted to be a wrestler. I loved the sport. When I was growing up, I’d watch videos of Sushil (Kumar) and Bajrang (Punia). I used to really enjoy those videos. I was good in studies, of course, but I felt I could do more for myself and the country as a wrestler,” says Sujeet. He moved to Sonipat to train with coach Kuldeep Singh, who recalls the youngster standing out particularly because of his intelligence. “He didn’t have any big results at the age-group levels for two reasons. One, of course, was because he was managing his studies alongside his sport. The second was that, unlike a lot of junior athletes, he never changed his age to get an unfair advantage. But his best quality was just how quickly he picked up things. He started training at our academy in 2021, and within four years, he’s now one of the best wrestlers in India,” says Kuldeep.

Atypical Indian wrestler

The unorthodox route Sujeet has taken in his career has influenced the kind of wrestler he is. “Most of the top Indian wrestlers have a game that is based on tiring out opponents. That’s because the training that most of them have is designed to build up stamina. When I watch someone like Bajrang pehelwan, it’s really exciting because he wrestles for all six minutes, and when he is competing, you always know that even if he is trailing in the score, he will break the opponent physically and then come back in the last few seconds of the match,” says Sujeet. “It’s fun to watch, but I can’t wrestle that way. When I started wrestling, I was always drilled on technique. Even now I’m more of a technical wrestler,” he says.

That’s what coach Kuldeep identifies as Sujeet’s strength too. “He’s not going to tire out an opponent. But he’s very sharp and explosive. He doesn’t like to give away easy points, and if he can, he will try to finish off matches as early as possible,” says Kuldeep.

Ever since making his senior national debut in 2022 — where he won silver — Sujeet has made a concerted push to claim the top spot in one of India’s marquee weight categories. While he emerged as the national representative in 2024 after winning the selection trials, Sujeet admits that he still has some way to go before cementing his place in the Indian squad.

His loss at the Olympic Qualification Tournament only further motivated him. “That tournament gave me the confidence that I could compete at a very high level, but it also helped me to understand just where I have to improve. I used to do very little strength training before last year. I was mostly just doing mat practice. I’ve added a lot more strength training to my routine now. If I give myself about 70 out of 100 when it comes to my technique, I think I will give myself about 50 out of 100 when it comes to my strength.

“I went to train in Japan and Russia, and both of those gave me the opportunity to polish my technique,” he says.

Double World goal

While he had hoped to push his case further at the Asian Championships at the start of the year, an unlucky injury to his right ankle in his second bout forced him to forfeit the remainder of the tournament. The injury, diagnosed as a ligament tear, took nearly two months to heal.

The Budapest Ranking Series marked his comeback. It was just one tournament, but the nature of his dominance suggests the injury is firmly behind him. It’s also a timely boost as Sujeet gears up for the rest of the season.

“My goal for this season is to medal at both the Senior and U-23 World Championships (in September and October of this year). I know I have the capability of doing both,” he says.

There’s a long-term goal too. Although he doesn’t specify the details, the Los Angeles 2028 poster in his room in Sonipat hints at it. Having fallen short of making it to Paris 2024, he’s determined not to miss out again. “By the next Olympics I want to be confident that I am as ready and well prepared as I can be,” he says.