Paris Olympics: Aman goes down in semis but hopes remain for a wrestling bronze

Two easy wins to begin the day and and no points conceded – Aman Sehrawat, India’s selection for the 57 kg men’s freestyle category at the Paris Olympics may have thought that his confidence-building run would take him into the gold medal bout. But Japan’s Rei Higuchi, from the famed Nippon Sport Science University, has his own ambitions, especially after what happened before the Tokyo Olympics.

The Japanese wrestler had moved back to the 57 kg weight category in 2021, after a brief period attempting to become the No 1 in his country in the 65 kg category. But at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Almaty, Higuchi missed weight by a mere 50 grams. Japan then sent Yuki Takahashi to the World Olympic Qualifiers, and he returned home to beat Higuchi to make the cut for the Tokyo Games. Higuchi won a silver medal in the 57 kg category at the 2023 World Championships in Belgrade and had made it clear that in his second Olympics appearance, he was looking to go one better than the silver he earned in Rio.

Aman fell victim to the Japanese’s rampant run at these Olympics, losing via technical superiority 10-0 inside two minutes. But the Indian still has the chance to take a bronze medal home, if he can beat Puerto Rican wrestler Darian Cruz – who had lost 12-2 to Higuchi.

Aman had started his Paris Olympics campaign brightly, taking down 2022 European Champion Vladimir Egarov immediately at the start of their bout. He then took advantage of a passivity warning on the North Macedonian to quickly put together another takedown to lead 4-0, a score that quickly grew to 6-0 after Egarov stepped out of bounds once and was also penalised for passivity.

The second period saw Aman immediately avoid a grab on one of his legs and then swooped down and got a hand on Egarov’s left ankle. He didn’t let go and quickly converted that to two more points to lead by 8. The first match of his day was quickly brought to a close thereafter. A weighty push from the top, followed by a swift move to the back and Aman had the last two points he needed to complete a win through technical superiority.

His second win of the day though, was a performance that not many saw coming. Zelimkhan Abakarov, a Chechen wrestler who represents Albania, was the Indian’s next challenge and a tough one at that. Abakarov won the 2022 World Championships in the 57 kg category and then won bronze the year after at the Worlds, but for Aman, the real worry would have been that he had lost last year to him by technical superiority.

A minute into the cagey start and the referee asked the Albanian to ramp up his efforts. Soon the 30-second passivity timer started and Aman capitalised. He moved low and grabbed his opponent’s left foot and immediately landed the takedown to put two points on the board to add to the passivity point awarded against the former World champion.

The second period was where Sehrawat turned up the heat and ended the contest. Both wrestlers were trying to grab each other’s hands to gain control, but Sehrawat soon shot for a double leg takedown and landed his attack. And the Indian not only gained two points but locked the Albanian’s legs in a lace and then started to roll. He managed to turn his helpless opponent three times for the score to be 11-0 in his favour. Abakarov’s camp challenged the call, lost and gave up another point for their troubles.

Anshu out

A tough opening match for 57 kg women’s freestyle wrestler Anshu meant that her chance of winning a Paris Olympics medal needed a legendary run. But the Indian, who won a silver medal at the 2021 World Championships, couldn’t match the pedigree of USA’s Helen Louis Maroulis, a multiple-time Olympic medallist across different weight categories.

Malik was unable to land a takedown on the stout defence of the American in the first period, who held onto the Indian’s hands and kept any hopes of a takedown firmly locked within her grip. Up 2-0, Maroulis completely shut down Malik in the second period, stitching together a takedown and then rolling the 23-year-old from Jind, Haryana. Malik got a takedown of her own soon after but the clock ran down on her and she lost 7-2. Maroulis then lost to Japan’s Tsugami Sakurai in the semi-final to end any hopes of a medal through the repechage for the Indian.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.