Wrestler Sujeet Kalkal thanks foreign coach Shako Bentinidis for encouraging him to adopt an attacking approach and employing the ‘dhobi pachhad’ (arm throw) technique, which made key contributions in his Asian Games gold medal win on debut.

Kalkal, who carried forward iconic wrestlers Yogeshwar Dutt and Bajrang Punia’s legacy to win the freestyle 65kg title, acknowledged Bentinidis’ role.

“Since my attack is good, Shako asked me to attack from the first bout,” said Kalkal, who was named India’s male athlete of the Games, during an interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Wednesday.

“I competed in Russia where I won, but Shako was not happy. He said, ‘You don’t attack much.’ I worked on that. In the Asian Games, I attacked in every bout and scored as well.”

Kalkal also added ‘dhobi pachhad’ to his attacking repertoire. “For (mastering) one technique, you need to practise it a lot so that you can show it in a competition. I thank Shako because he taught me this. I was interested, but couldn’t do it. He corrected me and made me practise it.”

The 23-year-old, who made a sensational comeback from 2-9 to beat Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev 10-9 in the Asiad final, said he needed to make the best use of his strong ground wrestling.

The resilient Kalkal, who was stranded at the Dubai airport with fellow wrestler Deepak Punia due to flooding and could not report for the Paris Olympics qualifier in Bishkek in April 2024, has taken the setback in his stride while focusing on 2028 Los Angeles.

Living in the present, Kalkal, who has claimed four international gold medals this year, wants to shine at this month’s World championships in Astana. “This competition is tougher than the Olympics (because of the quality and volume of athletes),” said Kalkal.  

A grounded athlete with strong values, Kalkal has a different way of celebrating festivals. “My father (Dayanand) says, ‘If you win a gold medal, then automatically we celebrate Diwali and Holi.’ I know there is a competition (Worlds) around Diwali. If I win a gold medal for India, then that will be Diwali for me,” said Kalkal.