Sujeet Kalkal will begin his campaign at the World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday riding a hot streak. With an Asian Games gold medal to his name, Sujeet will fancy his chances in 65kg, which features some of the toughest names in the world.

None is stronger than Iran’s Rahman Amouzad, the reigning world champion and 2024 Paris Olympics silver medallist. Amouzad is the top seed with Sujeet second among the 32 wrestlers in the fray for the category.

Amouzad, who won the world title in 2022 and 2025, was missing from the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, and if the two meet in the final, it will be a bout Sujeet would desperately want to win. He gave Amouzad a scare at last year’s World Championships before losing a close battle.

In fact, the 23-year-old was the only wrestler to put up a fight against Amouzad, losing a gripping contest 6-5. That bout proved to be a turning point for Sujeet, who has not looked back since.

Sujeet has racked up 19 consecutive victories in UWW events, building on gold medals at international ranking tournaments in Tirana and Zagreb, the Asian Championships and the Asian Games. When he defeated Japan’s Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka at the Asian Games, Sujeet showed what he is capable of achieving.

There will be several other challengers, including Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev, Russia’s Abasgadzhi Magomedov, the 2021 world champion in the 61kg category, and Japan’s Kaisei Tanabe, the 2025 Asian champion.

Sujeet has shown that he not only belongs at this level but also wants to dominate it. The hunger he demonstrated in his bouts at the Asian Games suggests that he can beat anyone on his day. He made a sensational comeback against Kudiev in the gold medal bout, overturning a 2-9 deficit with relentless attacks in the second period. Against Olympic champion Kiyooka, Sujeet displayed sound leg defence to neutralise his opponent’s attacks while creating scoring opportunities from difficult positions.

Since returning from the Asian Games, Sujeet has focused on preparing for the World Championships, knowing he can go all the way. Bajrang Punia, competing in the same weight class, reached the final in 2018 but lost a classic, nail-biting contest 9-16 to Japan’s Takuto Otoguro.

Sujeet has improved by leaps and bounds, and with Shako Bentinidis taking over as India’s freestyle coach, he has made some smart moves.

“The coach told me that I should attack more. We had a competition in Russia a few days ago where I came first, but the coach was not happy. He said that I don’t attack as much as I can. I worked on it, and it showed in my performance at the Asian Games,” Sujeet said after the continental event.

“In the final, all my attacks were successful, and it kept motivating me to cover the points.”

India will be without Aman Sehrawat in the freestyle competition. Aman, who won gold at the Asian Games, is not competing in Astana, presenting Rahul with a big opportunity to step up in the 57kg category in his absence.

Sagar Jaglan, competing in the 74kg category, is another wrestler who has caught coach Bentinidis’s eye with his skills and attitude. The World Championships will be a good test for him and the rest of the squad as they look to measure themselves against the world’s best.