Paris, Aug 10 (IANS): With an aggressive and attacking performance, Aman Sehrawat lifted the gloom over the Indian contingent over Vinesh Phogat's disqualification and missed medal by bagging a bronze medal in men’s 57 kg freestyle category.
Sehrawat scored a dominating 13-5 win over Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz to revive what could only be described as a heartbreaking campaign for Indian wrestlers.
In the process, Sehrawat became the youngest ever individual Olympic medallist from India at 21 years 0 months and 24 days. He betters PV Sindhu’s record, who was 21 years 1 month and 14 days old when she won silver at the Rio Olympics 2016.
Just when it looked like 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 marks India’s sixth medal at the Paris Olympics with the country securing one silver and five bronze medals so far.
Sehrawat, 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, Sehrawat 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 Sehrawat 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 only male wrestler representing India in wrestling this year. His outings have seen him secure an eighth Olympic medal for India in wrestling at the Olympics, two silvers and six bronze medals, extending its bid as the second most successful sport for the country in the Olympics 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 semifinal on Thursday.
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 has 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.