National Wrestling Championships 2025: Lalit stuns More to defend gold; Railway clinches team title
Defending champion Lalit made a superb comeback to pin two-time World under-23 bronze medallist and fellow Services wrestler Vishvajit More in an action-packed final and retain his Greco-Roman 55kg title on the concluding day of the National Wrestling Championships at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, Naranpura in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Lalit’s gold helped Services give Railways a close chase for the team title — both teams were tied on 190 points apiece, but Railways won it by securing four gold medals against Services’ three.
In a keenly-fought title clash, More, donning Maharashtra colours, gained early ground by taking a 5-0 lead, through three single points off push-outs and a take-down from an advantageous ‘par terre’ position, in the first period.
However, a never-say-die Lalit, who had beaten More 13-7 in the inter-Services final, fought back valiantly.
Following flashes of explosive action, More relied on a successful video referral to stay 7-4 ahead. But Lalit, an Asian under-23 bronze medallist and a two-time National under-23 champion, effected two push-outs and a take-down to close the gap in quick succession before pinning More spectacularly.
“I had the confidence to fight back,” said Lalit.
Up-and-coming Sahil Kadyan made light of his bleeding nose to rally from 0-1 in the first period and beat experienced Udit Patel to bag his maiden National title in 60kg. After going 3-1 up, 20-year-old Sahil showed his presence of mind and solid defence to thwart Udit’s strong challenge and emerge as the winner.
The results: Greco Roman:
55kg: Gold: Lalit (SSCB) bt Vishvajit More (Mah) ‘by fall;’ Bronze: Sarwan (Rly) bt Arshad (UP) 8-0, Neeraj Patel (MP) bt Harsh (MP) 4-1; 60kg: Gold: Sahil Kadyan (Har) bt Udit Patel (MP) 3-1; Bronze: Sumit (Chd) bt Manish (Rly) 10-0, Parvesh (SSCB) bt Abhishek Kumar (Jha) 8-0; 63kg: Gold: Chetan (Rly) bt Sunny Kumar (Har) 8-0; Bronze: Umesh (Del) bt Sagar Singh (Pun) 4-0, Gyanender (SSCB) bt Akshay (Chd) by injury; 67kg: Gold: Sachin Sehrawat (SSCB) bt Karanjit Singh (Pun) 3-1; Bronze: Anil (Rly) bt Siddharth (Har) 8-3, Anuj Kumar (Del) bt Aditya (Utk) 9-1; 72kg: Gold: Kuldeep Malik (Rly) bt Ankit Gulia (SSCB) ‘by fall;’ Bronze: Mahesh Rathore (MP) bt P. Uma Mahesh (AP) 8-0, Sourav Rana (UP) bt Deepak (Del) 10-5; 77kg: Gold: Aman (SSCB) bt Amit Kumar (Jha) 10-2; Bronze: Sagar Thakran (Del) bt Nishant Phogat (Chd) 1-1 by criteria, Lovepreet Singh (Rly) bt Badal Chauhan (UP) 8-0; 82kg: Gold: Prince (Har) bt Rahul (SSCB) 3-2; Bronze: Rohit Dahiya (Rly) bt Gulshan Chib (J-K) 9-0, Aniket Jadhav (Mah) bt Rajesh (Raj) 9-7; 87kg: Gold: Rohit (Rly) bt Karan Kamboj (Pun) 3-0; Bronze: Vijay (Har) bt Kapil (Del) 5-3, Rohit Bura (SSCB) bt Akarsh Mishra (Utk) 9-0; 97kg: Gold: Nitesh Kumar (Rly) bt Amit Choudhary (Raj) 11-0; Bronze: Deepanshu (SSCB) bt Vijender (Del) 9-0, Viresh Kundu (UP) bt Abhishek (HP) 9-0; 130kg: Gold: Joginder (Har) bt Uttam Rana (Rly) 8-4; Bronze: Sonu (Del) bt Vivek Kumar (Jha) 8-0, Kuldeep (SSCB) bt Shabaaz Singh (Pun) 8-3.
Published on Dec 14, 2025