India’s wrestling prodigy Sujeet KalKal etched another chapter in his rising stardom by capturing gold at the United World Wrestling Ranking Series in Tirana. Competing in the men’s 65kg freestyle division of the Muhammad Malo 2026 event, the 23-year-old under-23 world champion pinned down Azerbaijan’s Rashid Babazade 10-0 in the final, extending his hot streak.
Sujeet’s tournament journey was a clinic in dominance. Starting strong, he turned a 4-0 deficit into a 16-4 rout of Albania’s Andrio Avdali. The quarterfinals brought a technical 10-0 shutdown of Georgia’s Nika Zakashvili. Facing elite opposition in the semis, he blanked USA’s Joseph McKenna 11-0, a scoreline mirroring his Zagreb Open heroics just weeks prior.
Hot on the heels of his Zagreb Open gold, this marks back-to-back Ranking Series triumphs for Sujeet. It’s his fourth overall in the circuit, following victories in Zheyr Shagyr 2022 and 2025’s Poljak Imre and Varga Janos Memorials. Babazade entered the final after a gritty 16-13 semifinal over Vitali Arujau but crumbled under pressure.
Mohit Kumar couldn’t progress from qualifiers in 65kg. Bronze hopes in 57kg faded for Ankush and Atish Todkar in repechage defeats. Sumit (57kg), Rahul (61kg), Siddharth (70kg), Parvinder (74kg), and Aryan (86kg) also bowed out early. India’s 48-athlete delegation spanned freestyle, women’s, and Greco-Roman disciplines.