Back in 2015, when Nitesh Siwach was at home at Jagsi village in Haryana’s Sonipat, he would hop on to his father’s motorbike and set off before dawn daily to deliver milk.
“We didn’t have enough resources, so Nitesh decided to do his bit. A wrestler in his youth, Anand competed in local dangals, but couldn’t make it big. “The dairy was still in its early years, and we were not even breaking even. After the surgery, Nitesh decided to help me by ferrying milk when he should have recuperated. “I was impressed with his height. As he grew older, his physical strength stood out. His arms in particular are very, very strong.
Nitesh took up wrestling in 2012 after moving to the residential Pratap Sports School in Sonipat’s Kharkhoda village. He stood taller than most nine-year-olds when he came to me in 2012.
He has had a tough life,” Nitesh’s father, Anand, said. “He was initially into kabaddi, but I wanted him to wrestle,” Anand said. We had little knowledge about sports injuries and recovery,” he said. Look at the way he threw the Mongolian wrestler in the semi-final,” Om Prakash Dahiya, director of Pratap Sports School, said.
Today, he is reaping the rewards for all the hard work he has done.
Nitesh’s run to the final showcased his relentless attacking style. Competing straight in the quarter-finals, he defeated Turkmenistan’s Amanberdi Agamammedov 7-1 to set up a semi-final against Mongolia’s Gankhuyag Ganbaatar.
In August, Nitesh went to Uzbekistan with the men’s wrestling team for a 21-day training camp, and the exposure further helped him bridge the gap. “It was a thoroughly dominating win. Nitesh didn’t give his opponent a breather. “He was a different wrestler after that bout. He knew the gap between him and a truly world-class wrestler.
He is a very sound wrestler who is unstoppable when his attacks work,” India’s Greco Roman coach Hargobind Singh told HT from Japan. The win in Ulaanbaatar also gave him a lot of confidence,” Singh said.
