Indian Wrestler Aman Sehrawat. - Photo: Olympics.com
PARIS: Indian grappler Aman Sehrawat beat Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz to clinch the bronze medal in the 57 kg freestyle wrestling event at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Friday (Aug 9).
The 21-year-old Indian wrestler clinched a 13-5 victory over Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz to clinch the bronze medal. Aman brought India’s first wrestling medal at the Paris 2024 in his debut Olympic Games.
Aman Sehrawat becomes the 7th Indian wrestler to medal at the Olympics.
The Puerto Rican started with a dominating move by getting hold of Aman’s single leg and taking him out of the blue zone to win the first point.
However, Aman made a comeback and targeted Darian’s shoulders to put him outside the blue zone to get two points.
Darian Toi got hold of Aman’s legs, winning two points and taking the lead.
After the end of the first three minutes of the game, Aman once again took the lead in the bronze medal bout.
With only 37 seconds remaining in the match, Aman won two more points and had the chance to clinch a victory with technical superiority.
In the end, Darian tried to make a desperate move but conceded another point.
Earlier in the semi-final, Aman lost against Japan’s Rei Higuchi.
The Indian grappler was ousted by the Japanese completely in the bout, and within a blink of an eye, the match concluded. Higuchi moved into the gold medal match with a 10-0 win by technical superiority.
Following the defeat, Aman still has a shot at the bronze medal.
Aman stormed into the semi-finals to have a chance of competing for the medal with a technical superiority 12-0 win over Albania’s Zelimkhan Abakanov.
He got his first point in the bout due to passivity from the Albanian wrestler. He went on to complete a takedown to take a 3-0 lead in the first period.
In the second period, he outplayed Abakanov with his remarkable skillset to storm into the final four.
Earlier on Thursday, Aman defeated former European champion Vladimir Egorov by a technical superiority 10-0 win in the first round to reach the quarter-finals. - The Statesman/ANN
