Nisha Dahiya at Asian Games 2026: Debut Result & 68kg Profile

Nisha Dahiya secured her place in India's Asian Games wrestling squad on 30 May 2026, winning the women's 68kg category at the Wrestling Federation of India's selection trials at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi, defeating Mansi Lather 4-3 in a closely fought final. She joined Antim Panghal (53kg), Manisha Bhanwala (57kg), Mansi Ahlawat (62kg), Dipanshi (50kg) and Priya Malik (76kg) in a six-woman contingent, alongside a men's squad led by Olympic bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat.

The draw handed Nisha a rematch with Pak Sol Gum, the North Korean who beat her in the Paris Olympics quarter-final after Nisha was injured while in front. This time the bout finished level at 4-4, and Pak took it on criteria thanks to a four-point move in the first period. Because Pak went on to reach the final, Nisha came back into the repechage, but she was pinned by South Korea's Park Hyeonyeong, ending her campaign. Wrestling at the Games was held at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre from 30 September to 3 October (see the full Asian Games 2026 wrestling schedule).

Speaking to PTI ahead of the Games, Nisha said she used to feel God was being unfair to her every time an injury struck, but has since learned to stop dwelling on the setbacks that have repeatedly interrupted her career. Her longer-term goal remains a medal at Los Angeles 2028.

This is Japan's third time hosting the Asian Games, with 43 sports and 469 events. Read our complete guide to Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, check the Asian Games 2026 India schedule, and see where to watch Asian Games 2026 live in India.

Nisha Dahiya (born 18 October 1998 in Adiyana village, Panipat district, Haryana) is an Indian freestyle wrestler competing in the 68kg category. She is employed with Indian Railways and trains out of the Inspire Institute of Sport. She won silver at the 2023 Asian Wrestling Championships and the 2021 U23 World Championships, represented India at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and made her Asian Games debut at Aichi-Nagoya 2026.

Nisha Dahiya grew up in Adiyana village, Panipat district, in a modest household in a region where wrestling is widely practised. Her father, Ramesh Dahiya, encouraged her from a young age to be physically strong and confident. She briefly trained in basketball, but was drawn to wrestling after visiting an akhada in Jind and watching local dangals.

At age 12 she began formal wrestling training and joined a sports hostel, balancing schoolwork with early-morning training and sparring against older boys. She went on to win at school and junior national level before breaking through at senior level. Her journey later took a significant turn when she began training at Satyawan Akhada, where she crossed paths with Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, who became her sparring partner and mentor for a period, helping sharpen her naturally aggressive, fast-attacking style.

2021 was a turning point in Nisha's career. She won a silver medal at the 2021 U23 World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade in the 65kg category, her first major international medal.

Days later, while competing at the Senior National Championships in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, several news outlets mistakenly reported that Nisha and her brother had been shot dead in Sonepat, confusing her with another wrestler of the same name who was killed in Haryana. The report caused nationwide alarm before Nisha confirmed she was alive and competing. A day after the false reports, she went on to win the women's 65kg national title, pinning Punjab's Jaspreet Kaur in 30 seconds in the final after beating Haryana's Priyanka 7-6 in the semi-final. "I want people to know for my performance and not for such freak incidents," she said afterwards.

In 2022, Nisha was on course for a World Championships bronze medal, leading Canada's Linda Morais 4-0 in the bronze-medal bout, before an injury relapse forced her out of the contest. The setback kept her away from competition for several months, the first of several injury-interrupted spells that would come to define her career.

Nisha won a silver medal in the 68kg category at the 2023 Asian Wrestling Championships in Astana, backing it up with strong results on the UWW Ranking Series circuit. In May 2024, she booked a place at the Paris Olympics at the World Olympic Wrestling Qualifiers in Istanbul, beating Alina Shauchuk in the round of 16 and top seed Adela Hanzlickova in the semi-finals, before defeating Romania's Alexandra Anghel 8-4 in the final to seal the quota. This made her the fifth Indian woman wrestler to qualify for Paris 2024, part of a record five-strong Indian women's wrestling contingent (alongside Vinesh Phogat, Antim Panghal, Anshu Malik and Reetika Hooda).

At her Olympic debut in Paris, Nisha won her opening round-of-16 bout 6-4 against Ukraine's Tetiana Rizhko, coming back from 4-1 down after the first round. In the quarter-final against North Korea's Pak Sol Gum, she raced into an 8-1 lead and looked set for a place in the medal rounds.

Then, with under a minute left, she dislocated the ring and little fingers on her right hand while also carrying a heavily strapped elbow, and had to take medical timeouts. Sol Gum capitalised on the disruption and won 10-8. Because Sol Gum went on to lose to the USA's Amit Elor in the semi-final, Nisha also missed out on a repechage route to bronze. She finished seventh overall in the women's 68kg event. The two met again in the first round at the 2026 Asian Games, with Pak again coming out on top.

Injuries have been the recurring obstacle in Nisha's career, and she has spoken candidly about the toll they have taken:

• 2022 World Championships: An injury relapse forced her to retire from the bronze-medal bout while leading Canada's Linda Morais 4-0, ruling her out of competition for several months.
• 2024 Paris Olympics: Dislocated the ring and little fingers on her right hand, plus an aggravated elbow problem, while leading her quarter-final; she lost 8-10 and missed the medal rounds.
• Ongoing: In a September 2026 interview with PTI ahead of the Asian Games, Nisha said injuries have repeatedly interrupted her career and disrupted training blocks for months at a stretch, but that she has learned to stop cribbing about it and focus on what she can control.

No specific injury was reported in the build-up to the 2026 Asian Games.

Early in her senior career, Nisha trained at Satyawan Akhada alongside Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, who acted as her sparring partner and mentor and is credited with helping unlock her natural speed and attacking instincts.

Ahead of the 2026 Asian Games, Nisha has been working with Kosei Akaishi, a Japanese coach and two-time Olympic medallist hired by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) to work with the women's team. She has credited him with improving her ground wrestling, an area she says Indian training traditionally under-emphasises compared to Japanese wrestling, as well as adding faster, cleaner technique to her game.

In the build-up to the Asian Games, Nisha won a bronze medal in the 68kg category at the 2026 Grand Prix in Zagreb, before sealing her Asian Games berth at the WFI trials in Delhi in May 2026. Her Asian Games debut in Nagoya ended on the opening day of wrestling, 30 September.

• 2023 Asian Wrestling Championships: Silver medal, 68kg, Astana.
• 2021 U23 World Wrestling Championships: Silver medal, 65kg, Belgrade.
• 2021 Senior National Championships: Gold medal, 65kg, Gonda.
• 2026 Grand Prix, Zagreb: Bronze medal, 68kg.
• 2024 Paris Olympics: Qualified and competed; finished 7th overall in 68kg.

In India's 2026 Asian Games squad, Nisha lined up alongside fellow women's wrestlers Antim Panghal (53kg), Manisha Bhanwala (57kg), Mansi Ahlawat (62kg), Dipanshi (50kg) and Priya Malik (76kg), as part of a squad led on the men's side by Olympic bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat. At the domestic trials, she beat Mansi Lather 4-3 in the 68kg final to earn her spot. On the international stage, her notable opponents in the 68kg category include North Korea's Pak Sol Gum, who beat her at both the Paris Olympics and the 2026 Asian Games, Canada's Linda Morais and South Korea's Park Hyeonyeong.

Nisha Dahiya's story so far is less about a single defining triumph and more about persistence through repeated setbacks.

• Silver medallist at both the 2023 Asian Championships and the 2021 U23 World Championships
• A 2024 Paris Olympian who was seconds away from a likely medal-round place before injury intervened
• Survived a bizarre 2021 media mix-up that falsely reported her death, then won a national title the very next day
• Made her Asian Games debut in 2026, with a medal at Los Angeles 2028 as her longer-term goal

From an akhada in Jind to the mat in Aichi-Nagoya, Nisha Dahiya's Asian Games debut ended without a medal, but her focus now turns to the LA 2028 Olympic cycle.