Sumit Dalal Loses 60kg Quarterfinal at Asian Games 2026: Full Profile

Sumit Dalal represented India in the Greco-Roman 60kg category at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. Wrestling is being held at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center from 30 September to 3 October, and each weight category is completed in a single day.

Sumit's bout against Abbaspourragani was level at 1-1 at the end, and the decision went to the Iranian on criteria. He did not reach the semifinal or final, and reports on the day said any route into the repechage depended on how far Abbaspourragani progressed. 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. See the full Asian Games 2026 wrestling schedule for every India bout.

Sumit Dalal is a 21-year-old Indian Greco-Roman wrestler who competes at 60kg. He trained in Chandigarh in his junior years, won silver at the 2023 World U20 Championships, and defended his Asian U23 title in 2026 before making his Asian Games debut in Nagoya.

Sumit Dalal wrestled on 1 October 2026 in the men's Greco-Roman 60kg event. Official result tables list no Round of 32 or Round of 16 bouts for him, so his first match was the quarterfinal. The table below shows every stage of the event.

India's Asian Games wrestling team was picked through the Wrestling Federation of India's final selection trials in Lucknow in May 2026. The trials covered all 18 Olympic weight categories, with 169 wrestlers competing across freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Sumit Dalal won the 60kg Greco-Roman berth with a 9-5 victory over Chetan in the final. He joined Deepak (67kg), Aman (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Nitesh Siwach (97kg) and Deepanshu (130kg) in the original Greco-Roman squad. Only four Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers (Sumit, Aman, Sunil Kumar and Nitesh) were listed in the final Nagoya schedule.

Before the Games, several Greco-Roman wrestlers trained in Uzbekistan against strong Asian opposition. Sumit has said he waited four years for this chance after missing selection for the previous Asian Games by a single point.

India's national wrestling head coach for the 2026 Asian Games is Emzarios Bentinidis, popularly known as "Shako", who was appointed to prepare the squad for Aichi-Nagoya and builds individual roadmaps for each wrestler.

Sumit Dalal trained with the national squad, and several members of the Greco-Roman group also trained in Uzbekistan before the Games. Early in his career he was a trainee of the Mani Majra Sports Complex in Chandigarh. He has spoken about his own coach, but the published reports do not name him.

Sumit Dalal was based in Chandigarh in his junior years, where he stayed with his uncle and trained at the Mani Majra Sports Complex while competing at state and national level.

In 2024 he suffered a serious accident, and his return to the mat after it is one of the main storylines of his Asian Games run. He came back to win the Asian U23 title in 2025 and defend it in 2026.

• 2023: Silver in Greco-Roman 60kg at the World U20 Championships in Amman, Jordan. He won three bouts by technical superiority before losing the final 4-13 to Armenia's Suren Aghajanyan.
• 2025: Gold at the Asian U23 Championships in Vung Tau, Vietnam, India's first U23 Asian Greco-Roman gold since 2022 and the only one in that style that year.
• 2026: Defended the Asian U23 title in Da Nang, Vietnam, at 63kg, beating Uzbekistan's Ozodbek Khalimboev in the final.
• 2026: Won the 60kg selection trials and made his Asian Games debut in Aichi-Nagoya.

Iran's Sajjad Abbaspourragani (also listed as Sajjad Abbaspour) stopped Sumit in the quarterfinal. Sumit's quarterfinal opponent was decided by the bout between Abbaspourragani and China's Haodong Tan, and the Iranian came through to face him. For context, Kyrgyzstan's Zholaman Sharshenbekov won the previous Asian Games gold at 60kg, held in Hangzhou in 2023.

Sunil Kumar became the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win two Asian Games medals, and Nitesh Siwach became the first Indian Greco-Roman finalist since 1962.

Before Nagoya, Sumit Dalal had already won several important bouts at junior and U23 level, plus the trial final that sent him to the Asian Games.

Three of his four bouts on the way to the 2023 World U20 final ended in technical superiority wins.

• Two-time Asian U23 champion in a style where India rarely wins golds
• World U20 silver medallist in 2023 at 60kg
• Came back from a serious 2024 accident to make his first Asian Games

Sumit Dalal's Asian Games debut saw a 1-1 quarterfinal defeat decided on criteria, but his junior record and recovery make him one of the young Greco-Roman wrestlers India will watch in the next cycle.