The wait for Vinesh Phogat’s case — she has appealed for a silver medal in the Court of Arbitration for Sports — continues, but young Aman Sehrawat has earned India a wrestling medal at the Paris Olympics.
The 21-year-old Aman won the bronze medal, defeating Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz in the men’s 57kg freestyle category at the Paris Games on Friday.
India’s medals tally in Paris now stands at six — five bronze medals and a silver, which was won by javelin star Neeraj Chopra on Thursday.
On his Olympic debut, Aman was India’s only male grappler. He was the Asian champion and the Asian Games bronze medallist last year.
Aman won the bronze-medal bout 13-5 to continue the tradition of wrestlers returning home with a medal from the Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Games, where Sushil Kumar too had won a bronze.
Aman took a 6-4 lead against Cruz after a closely contested first period. However, the Indian was dominant on the mat in the second, out-scoring his rival.
On Thursday, Aman had lost to Japanese top-seed Rei Higuchi in the semi-final bout. But 24 hours later, the grappler from Haryana has managed to bring smiles on the face of the Indian wrestling contingent in Paris, who have had a tough time.
Antim Panghal (53kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), and Nisha Dahiya (68kg) could not reach the medal rounds in their respective categories. On the other hand, Vinesh (50kg) was disqualified despite entering the final for being overweight.
Having lost his parents at a tender age of 12, the famed Chhatrasal stadium — where his father had enrolled him in 2013 — became Aman’s second home. He comes from the centre that has given India four Olympic medallists — Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya.
Reetika Hooda (women’s 76kg) will be in action on Saturday, and if she wins a
medal, India will match its Tokyo tally.
With inputs from PTI
