All medals won by India in wrestling at Summer Olympics

KD Jadhav was the first Individual medalist of Independent India at the Olympics.

Wrestling was first introduced at the Olympics in 1896 in Athens in the form of Greco-Roman wrestling. Except for 1900, the sport has been played in every edition till now. Freestyle wrestling appeared in 1904, and women’s wrestling made its debut in 2004.

There was a threat in 2013 to remove wrestling from the Olympics, but after the change of the governing body from FILA to UWW, the sport survived and was included in Rio 2016.

India has won 8 medals at the Games, out of which 2 are silver and 6 are bronze. India is yet to win a wrestling gold medal at the Olympics. Let’s have a look at the medals India has so far won in wrestling at the Summer Games

KD Jadhav: Bronze medal, Helsinki 1952 (Men’s 57kg)

KD Jadhav was the first individual medalist for Independent India. He finished 6th at the 1948 Olympics, a credible result, but he was disappointed. In the 1952 Olympics, he defeated many international star wrestlers from Canada and Mexico He lost to Rasidh in the next round, and without any rest, he faced the eventual gold medalist, Shohachi. However, he made history by bagging the bronze medal and was celebrated very proudly upon returning

Sushil Kumar: Bronze medal, Beijing 2008 and Silver Medal, London 2012 (Men’s 66kg)

Sushil Kumar ended India’s medal drought in wrestling by winning the nation’s second medal in the sport after 56 years. Sushil is also the only Indian to win the gold medal at the World Championships, he achieved this feat in the 66 kg category in 2010. The former Indian grappler started his 2008 campaign with a loss over Ukraine’s Andriy Stadnik (1-2, 0-6).

However, the Ukrainian reached the semifinals, and the Indian got another shot at the medal through repechage. In repechage round 1, he defeated Doug Schwab of the USA (4-1, 0-1, 3-2). Then, in round 2, he defeated Albert Batyrov of Belarus (1-0, 0-4, 7-0) to reach the bronze medal match. In the bronze medal match, he stunned Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan (2-1, 0-1, 1-0) to win the bronze medal.

In 2012, he became the first individual athlete to win two medals after independence at the Olympic Games. He defeated Ramazan Sahin of Turkey (0-2, 1-0, 1-0) in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan (3-1, 2-1, 2-0).

In the semifinals, he defeated Akzhurek Tanatarov of Kazakhstan (3-0, 0-3, 6-3) to reach the gold medal match. He also became the first wrestler to reach the finals of the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, he lost to Japanese wrestler Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu (0-1, 1-3) and won silver.

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Yogeshwar Dutt: Bronze medal, London 2012 (Men’s 60 kg)

After two disappointing outings at the Olympics, Yogeshwar Dutt won a bronze medal in London in 2012. Like Sushil Kumar in Beijing, Dutt also won his Olympic medal through repechage. He started his campaign with a win over Anatolie Guidea of Bulgaria (0-1, 2-0, 5-0) in the round of 32. In the R16, he lost to Besik Kudukhov of Russia (0-1, 0-2).

However, Besik reached the finals, and this gave Dutt another chance for a medal. In repechage round 1 he defeated Franklin Gómez of Puerto Rico (1-0, 1-0). Then in the second round, he defeated Masoud Esmaeilpour of Iran (3-0, 2-3, 4-0) to reach the bronze medal match. Then in the bronze medal match, he defeated Ri Jong-myong of North Korea (0-1, 1-0, 6-0) to secure a podium finish.

Sakshi Malik: Bronze medal, Rio 2016 (Women’s 58kg)

India was having a terrible campaign in Rio, and it was looking disastrous as there was a chance that India could not win a single medal. But then comes Sakshi Malik to the rescue. She becomes the first Indian women’s wrestler to win a medal at the Olympic Games. Sakshi won his Round of 32 match against Johanna Mattsson of Sweden 5-4. She then defeated Mariana Cherdivara of Modlova 5-4 in R16.

In the quarterfinal, she lost to Valeria Koblova of Russia 2-9. Valeria reached the finals and gave Sakshi Malik another chance for the medal. She defeated Pürevdorjiin Orkhon of Mongolia 12-3 in the repechage round to reach the bronze medal match. She then faced Aisuluu Tynybekova of Krygystan, and she trailed till the last few seconds and completely turned the match to win the bronze medal.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya: Silver Tokyo 2020 (Men’s 57kg)

Ravi Dahiya became the second Indian wrestler to win a silver medal in wrestling. He started his campaign with a comfortable win over Óscar Tigreros of Colombia and Georgi Vangelov of Bulgaria. He won both his matches via technical superiority (10-point difference).

In the semifinals, he made a stunning comeback after trailing to win the match via fall as he defeated Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan to reach the finals. In the final, he lost 4-7 to eventual favorite Zaur Uguev of Russia. He gave a good fight, but Uguev’s defense was brilliant.

Bajrang Punia: Bronze Tokyo 2020 (Men’s 65kg)

Bajrang won India’s second wrestling medal in Tokyo 2020. Bajrang, who suffered an injury just before the Olympics, was looking rusty in his opening bout. He survived and defeated Ernazar Akmataliev of Krygystan in R16. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Morteza Ghiasi of Iran via fall.

In the Semifinal he lost to Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan 5-12 and entered the bronze medal match. In the bronze medal match, he defeated Daulet Niyazbekov  of Kazakhstan 8-0 to win the bronze. Bajrang has won 4 world championship medals, the most by any Indian.

Aman Sehrawat: Bronze Paris 2024 (Men’s 57 kg)

Aman Sehrawat made his Olympic debut in 2024 at Paris. He competed like an experienced wrestler and did not lose a single point in his first two bouts. Sehrawat was winning the bouts through technical superiority. He then lost to eventual champion, Rei Higuchi of Japan in the semifinal.

Sehrawat did not lose hope as he made a comeback in the bronze medal playoff against Darian Cruz. He won the bout 13-5 crushing the Puerto Rican. Sehrawat became India’s youngest Olympic medallist at the age of 21.

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