Milkman’s son dreams of Asian Games glory: The story of wrestler Nitesh Siwach
When the Asian Games trials came up, Nitesh Siwach’s father traveled to watch his son’s match in person. After all these years of struggle, it didn’t need to be said. Just one line, a line that Nitesh has carried with him ever since.
“My father told me, there’s no looking back now, you have to bring a medal in the Asian Games and then the Olympics and the World Championships. Then he said, ‘That’s a very good start for you’. That line stuck with me from that day,” recalls Nitesh.
ASIAN GAMES 2026: FULL REPORT
For the 23-year-old who is preparing for his first Asian GamesThose words carry the weight of a journey that began long before trials, before medals, and even before wrestling became his mission. It’s a journey for a father’s dream, a son’s second chance and a promise that slowly took shape on the mat.
A DREAM THAT STARTED WITH KABADDI
Nitesh’s entry into wrestling was almost accidental. In 2012, Pratap went to school with only one intention: to play kabaddi, the sport he loved at the time. But there was also wrestling at school and his father always wanted his son to become a pehelwan.
That dream changed the course of Nitesh’s life.
“I started wrestling in 2012. My father always had a dream that I should become a wrestler. I played kabaddi and I actually went to Pratap School to play kabaddi, but we also had wrestling there. Since it was my father’s dream, I got into wrestling instead,” he says.
For the next two years, Nitesh trained and began to find his feet in the sport. Then came knee surgery that forced him out of the game.
The break lasted almost two years.
With his wrestling future suddenly uncertain, Nitesh began helping his father, who worked as a milkman. The wrestling mat was replaced by milk deliveries and the daily grind of helping his family make ends meet.
For a while, it looked like his wrestling journey might be over before it really began.
But the idea of ​​returning never completely disappeared.
As Nitesh spent more time helping his father with the milk bikes, he began to wonder what he could achieve if he spent those hours training instead. Finally, he went to his parents with a simple request: give him six months.
“I went to my mum and dad, my whole family actually, and asked them, just give me six months to try wrestling again,” he says.
They said yes.
Nitesh made the most of this second chance and won a medal at the School Nationals during this six month period. It may have been just one medal, but for Nitesh, it was the moment his story changed course.
FROM A SECOND CHANCE TO THE ASIAN GAMES
That second start has since turned into a steady climb.
Nitesh established himself at the senior level, winning bronze at the 2025 Asian Championships before improving that result to silver in 2026. The promotion has now taken him to the biggest opportunity of his young career: his first Asian Games.
Another important step forward was brought by a three-week training camp in Uzbekistan. Against quality international opposition, Nitesh worked specifically on the area he felt needed the most attention: the ground game.
“The camp in Uzbekistan was a great exposure for us, it gave us a lot of confidence that we can perform well at the Asian Games. I specifically worked on my ground game during this camp and I feel I have become stronger in that area now,” he says.
Medals came, experience came and self-confidence followed. But with the Asian Games now within reach came another challenge: managing the expectations that come with it.
Nitesh has spent the last three to four years building towards this moment. He also knows the history associated with his weight class: no wrestler from his division has won a medal at the Asian Games before.
This statistic is both an opportunity and a burden.
“There’s pressure because people say you can win a medal. And there’s the added pressure that no one in my weight class has done well at the Games before. So somewhere in my head, I keep telling myself, I have to give it 100 percent. But honestly, that kind of pressure can also pull you down a lot. I’ve been waiting four years for this, and if I push too hard, my performance will drop*,” he admits.
For Nitesh, the answer is not to pretend the pressure doesn’t exist, but to keep it in perspective.
His coaches and parents remind him that sports are never a straight line. There are good phases, bad phases, and periods where the match play just goes down before picking up again.
Nitesh also has a more personal way of dealing with setbacks. He observes himself.
When something goes wrong, he goes back to the tapes of his own matches, looking for the smallest details that might reveal where he’s losing ground.
“When I’m not doing well, I sit and watch my videos to see where I’m weak, where I’m missing, where I’m making mistakes. I watch every training video very carefully and try to correct every little thing I can. I also talk to my coaches, I talk to my parents and they tell me don’t worry, every two or three months your game changes, sometimes you go back up, sometimes you go down.
SUPPORT FOR THE WRESLER
There have been many difficult turns along the way: injuries, long absences from the game and uncertainty about whether he will return.
Through it all, Nitesh says Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) has remained a constant source of support, taking care of everything from travel and training to nutrition and physiotherapy.
“I’m really, really grateful to IIS, whatever I needed, they took care of it. Whether it was travel to training and races, my nutrition, physical therapy, whatever, they always supported me and gave me everything I needed,” he says.
Now, after all that has gone before, the Asian Games are finally here.
For Nitesh, this is more than just another tournament. It is the latest chapter in a story that began when a young boy entered school hoping to play kabaddi, spent years off the mat helping his father deliver milk and then fought his way back to wrestling.
His father once asked him to dream bigger: first the Asian Games, then the Olympics and the World Championships.
Now, with his first Asian Games, Nitesh has just one request for the people who have stood by him all along.
“Please pray for me, I will bring home a gold medal for them. Mein apne desh ka Tiranga lehraunga, aur Rashtragaan bajaunga (I will keep our nation’s tricolor flying high and make our national anthem play.),” he says.
– The end
Published on:
10 Sep 2026 12:30 PM IST