From selling milk at 15 to Asian Games silver: Nitesh Siwach’s journey

As a 15-year-old, the Asian Games silver-winning Greco-Roman wrestler Nitesh Siwach was busy helping his father sell milk in Panipat, Haryana.

After two years of hard work, getting up at 5am and returning home at 5pm, Nitesh started training in wrestling with his family's permission.

The toil bore fruits in distant Japan. The 23-year-old Nitesh on Thursday lost to Yuri Nakazato of Japan in the 97kg final to settle for a silver, but the medal still has a lot of sheen to it.

"My father is a milkman. When I was 15, I had a knee operation. I started working as a milkman with my father. I used to sell milk every day," Nitesh said after his final bout.

"I was alone at home, so my father told me 'why are you alone at home? Come with me (to sell milk)'. I used to go to Panipat with my father," said Nitesh, hailing from Jagsi village in Haryana’s Panipat district.

From 2017 to 2019 he worked as a milkman. It was a tough 12-hour job and he left it after two years, and sought permission from the family to restart a career in wrestling, which came to a temporary halt with the knee operation.

"My village is 40 km from Panipat. I used to wake up at 5 a.m. and come back home at 5 p.m. I sold milk for two years. I didn't have a day off, so I thought of requesting my family. I asked for six months, and then I started wrestling again," he said.

He then started training at Pratap School in Kharkhoda.

"My teachers Om Prakash Dahiya and Sandeep gave me a lot of attention. They motivated me to become a world champion one day. I haven't become a world champion yet, but I feel that I will become a world champion one day."

In 2022, Nitesh won a bronze medal at the U23 World Championships. In 2025, he bagged a bronze in Asian Championships before upgrading to silver this year.

Asked if he ever thought of going to a 'Dangal' when he started Greco-Roman wrestling, he said, "After the knee operation, I started playing in Greco-Roman. After the injury, I never thought of going to 'Dangal'. I started playing Greco-Roman on the mat."

He hoped that Greco-Roman would be included in the Pro Wrestling League.

"I will request the Pro Wrestling League organisers to include Greco-Roman."

Asked about his daily diet, he said, "I would like to eat churma (a sweet dish) at home. I mostly eat vegetarian food. I eat home-made paneer, butter, churma and drink milk. I also eat chicken sometimes," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Bridge Desk. It is published from a syndicated feed)