Finance
Aman Sehrawat raised the Indian contingent’s spirits after Vinesh Phogat was disqualified and missed the medal round by winning bronze in the men’s 57 kg freestyle event.
Sehrawat defeated Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz 13-5 to reinvigorate what had been a devastating campaign for Indian wrestlers.
Sehrawat became India’s youngest individual Olympic medalist aged 21 years, 0 months, and 24 days. He beats PV Sindhu’s record of 21 years, 1 month, and 14 days, set when she won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Just as it appeared that Indian wrestlers would return empty-handed from the Olympics for the first time since 2008, Sehrawat gave the contingent a lot to cheer for as he bagged the bronze medal on Friday.
This is India’s sixth medal at the Paris Olympics, having previously won one silver and five bronze medals.
Sehrawat, the contingent’s lone male wrestler, lost the first point of the battle after stepping off the mat, but rallied to take a 6-3 lead at the end of the first round, despite being 2-3 down at one point.
In the second round, Sehrawat was full of confidence and never appeared like he was going to give up his comfortable advantage, ultimately winning the match 13-5.
Sehrawat, 21, 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) as the Indian wrestlers to win medals in the Olympic Games so far. This is the sixth medal won by wrestlers from the Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi which is a major hub of wrestling activity in India.
Sehrawat was the lone male wrestler to represent India this year. His performances have resulted in an eighth Olympic medal for India in wrestling, as well as two silver and six bronze medals, expanding the country’s ambition to be the second most successful sport in the Olympics, after only hockey.
The Haryana wrestler began his campaign with two successive technical superiority victories in his first two fights, but lost 0-10 to Japanese top seed Rei Higuchi in the semifinals on Thursday.
He had strolled over previous European champion North Macedonia’s Vladimir Egorov by a 10-0 technical advantage in his round of 16 match before defeating Albania’s Zelimkhan Abakarov, the 2022 world champion and fourth seed, 12-0 in the quarterfinals.
Nisha Dahiya was eliminated from the quarterfinals of the women’s 68kg weight class on Monday. Vinesh Phogat advanced to the final of the women’s 50kg class on Tuesday, but was disqualified after failing the weigh-in on Wednesday. Anshu Malik fell in the round of 16 to Helen Maroulis of the United States, and Antim lost in her first round as well.
Source:IANS
