Sujeet Kalkal produced one of the great Asian Games comebacks on Friday. He came from 2-9 down to beat Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev 10-9 and win the men’s 65kg freestyle wrestling gold.

The 23-year-old trailed 9-2 with less than two minutes left. He then scored eight straight points, landing the winning takedown with just 11 seconds on the clock.

It is India’s first wrestling gold at these Games. It is also India’s first wrestling gold at the Asian Games since Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat won in Jakarta 2018.

Earlier in the day, Sujeet beat Japan’s Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka 3-3 on criteria in the semifinal. He also won his quarterfinal by technical superiority without conceding a point.

Fighting in the weight class where Bajrang won gold in 2018, Sujeet has now announced himself on the big stage in his Asian Games debut.

Sujeet’s run included a 13-3 technical superiority win over Afghanistan’s Sayed Omar Zazai. He beat Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi in the quarterfinal without conceding a point. The final was held at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center. It was his maiden Asian Games appearance.