National, 1 October: Nitesh Siwach won silver in the men’s 97kg Greco-Roman wrestling event at the Asian Games 2026 and said the medal was for his father.
The Indian wrestler said no one from his weight category had won a medal at the Games before him, which added to the pressure.
“I did it for him”
“Honestly, I still can’t believe it, I have won a silver medal at the Asian Games,” Nitesh said.
“My father always told me there was no looking back once I started this journey, that I had to bring home a medal, and today, I did it for him.”
“No one from my weight category had ever won a medal here before, so there was a lot of pressure, but I trusted my training and gave everything I had.”
He thanked the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS), where he trains. “Whatever I needed, travel, nutrition, physiotherapy, they were always there for me,” he said.
He ended in Hindi: “Maine apne desh ka Tiranga lehra diya” (I have flown my country’s Tricolour).
For more of India’s results in Aichi-Nagoya, see our Asian Games 2026 round-up.
