iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
India’s medal tally at the ongoing Paris Olympic Games increased by one as wrestler Aman Sehrawat secured a bronze medal in the men’s 57 kg freestyle category with a dominating 13-5 win over Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz.
Just when it looked like the Indian wrestling contingent would return empty-handed from the Olympics for the first time since 2008, Aman gave the country — which recently suffered a heartbreak as Vinesh Phogat was disqualified on the morning of her gold medal bout — a lot to cheer for, as he bagged the bronze medal on Friday, August 9. This marks India’s sixth medal at the Paris Olympics, with the country securing one silver and five bronze medals.
Aman, the lone male wrestler in the contingent, lost the first point of the bout after stepping out of the mat but came back strongly and took the 6-3 lead at the end of the first round despite being 2-3 down at one point.
In the second round, Aman was riding high on confidence and never looked like he was letting go of his comfortable lead and ended up winning the bout 13-5.
The 21-year-old Aman joined K.D Jadhav (bronze 1952), Sushil Kumar (bronze 2008, silver 2012), Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze 2012), Sakshi Malik (bronze 2016), Ravi Dahiya (silver 2020) and Bajrang Punia (bronze 2020) in the list of Indian wrestlers to win medals in the Olympic Games so far.
With eight Olympic medals — two silver medals and six bronze medals — wrestling is India’s second most successful sport in the Games, behind Hockey.
The wrestler from Haryana started his campaign dominantly as he registered two consecutive technical superiority wins in his first two bouts but went on to lose to Japanese top-seed Rei Higuchi 0-10 in the semi-final on Thursday, August 8.
He had cruised past former European champion, North Macedonia’s Vladimir Egorov, by a 10-0 technical superiority in his round of 16 bout before dismantling Albania’s Zelimkhan Abakarov, the 2022 world champion and fourth seed, 12-0 in the quarterfinals.
Reetika Hooda, in the women’s 76kg division, is the lone Indian wrestler who is yet to compete at the Games.
On Monday, Nisha Dahiya was eliminated in the quarterfinals of women’s 68kg. Vinesh Phogat made it to the final in the women’s 50kg division on Tuesday but was disqualified after she failed the weigh-in on Wednesday. Anshu Malik lost her round of 16 bout against the USA’s Helen Maroulis, while Antim also lost in her opening bout.
