The international wrestling season kicked off with the Zagreb Open 2026 Ranking Series, held from 4 to 8 February in Zagreb, Croatia. The tournament made global headlines with the return of Iranian legend Hassan Yazdani to the mat after Paris, along with several reigning World champions suffering unexpected defeats. However, here we focus specifically on the event from an Indian perspective, examining the highs and the lows.
HIGHS
1) Sujeet Kalkal: The U23 World Champion continues to cement his status as one of India’s brightest freestyle prospects. Sujeet delivered a flawless campaign, winning all three of his bouts, two by technical superiority, en route to gold. Remarkably, he did not concede a single point throughout the tournament.
Safe to say, he is currently India’s best male freestyle Wrestler and has a big year coming up with the World championships and Asian games on the line where he will be up against the very best in the world.
2) Manisha Bhanwala: Manisha looks like a completely transformed athlete since transitioning from 62 kg and 65 kg down to 57 kg. Impressively, she has retained the strength from her higher weight classes while adapting effectively to the lighter division. She teched her way to the finals where she convincingly took down Himeka Tokuhara of Japan 3-0 to win gold. For context, Tokuhara is one of the top 57s of Japan, having won the Emperor’s cup silver last year ,losing out a tight final against Akari Fujinami.
3) Chetan: A surprising finalist in Greco Roman. Chetan stormed into the finals of the men’s 63 Kg Greco Roman upsetting former World Champion Meysam Dalkhani of Iran 14-5 in the semis. He lost the finals however, 4-8 against another Iranian. Though the result was in a non Olympic category, beating an Iranian world champion in greco roman is itself a commendable achievement for an Indian greco wrestler.
4) Neelam Sirohi, Mansi Lather, Diksha Malik and Vicky Hooda: Good performances from these four wrestlers. Neelam made the 50 Kg finals, dropping the finals 2-5 against U23 World Champion Haruna Morikawa of Japan. Mansi Lather fought well against Olympic Silver medalist Kennedy Blades of USA before going down 3-5 in a close encounter. Diksha Malik earned a solid silver losing out against former World Champion Buse Tosun Cavusoglu of Turkey 2-5 in the finals. Vicky Hooda did well to win the bronze medal, losing out against the eventual gold medalist Stephen Buchanan of USA 7-14 in the quarter finals.
LOWS
1) Aman Sehrawat: India’s reigning Olympic bronze medalist, entered the 61 kg category as a clear favorite. In a surprising turn, he suffered a massive one sided defeat to Austin Desanto of the USA. Aman’s traditionally vulnerable defense was exploited, and he struggled to establish control or impose his attacking rhythm. The loss raises questions about tactical adjustments moving forward.
2) Antim Panghal: 2 times senior world medalist and India’s best female Wrestler currently, too went in as the favourite to win gold. She was stopped by Everest Lydecker of USA 2-2 on criteria in the semis, in a very disappointing loss. While Lydecker is a capable opponent, the bout was one Antim would have expected to manage.
3) Ankush Chandram and Atish Todkar: Disappointment in the 57 Kg. With Aman competing at 61 kg, expectations were high from Ankush Chandram and Atish Todkar at 57 kg following strong Pro Wrestling League performances.
Ankush fell 1–7 to Japan’s Fuga Sasaki in the quarterfinals. Atish endured an even tougher outing, dominated by Roman Bravo-Young in his opening bout and then defeated in just 19 seconds by Valizadeh in the bronze medal match. The 57 kg results were undoubtedly below expectations.
4) Nisha Dahiya and Priya Malik: Nisha Dahiya entered the tournament on the back of an impressive PWL season, seemingly returning to her pre-Olympic form. However, she was halted in the quarterfinals by U23 World Champion Bas Nesrin of Turkey. Notably, Nisha competed at 62 kg during the PWL but moved up to 68 kg here, and continuous weight cuts may have impacted her performance.
Priya Malik also had a mixed tournament. After opening with a dominant technical superiority win over Enrica Rinaldi, she faltered in the semifinals and subsequently lost the bronze medal match to opponents she would have been expected to overcome.
