Paris Olympics 2024: Aman Sehrawat loses men’s 57kg semi-final, remains in contention for bronze

Aman Sehrawat suffered his first defeat after starting his maiden Olympic campaign with back-to-back wins, suffering a 0-10 drubbing at the hands of Japan’s Rei Higuchi in the men’s 57kg semi-finals in Paris on Thursday.

Aman began his campaign with a 10-0 victory over Russian-born Macedonian grappler Vladimir Egorov in the pre-quarter-finals, and would follow it up with a 12-0 win over Albania’s Russian-born wrestler Zelimkhan Abakarov.

In the semi-final though, Aman could hardly keep up with Higuchi, who had won silver in the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Japanese grappler proved too good for Aman and bulldozed his way to a VSU — a victory by technical superiority wherein his opponent failed to collect a single point.

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It’s not over for Aman though, and he can still walk away with a medal around his neck as he faces Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz in the bronze medal match on Friday, 9 August.

Read | Who is Aman Sehrawat, the lone Indian male wrestler at the Paris Olympics?

Aman was the only Indian male wrestler to win Paris 2024 quota who was eventually preferred over Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Ravi Kumar Dahiya by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

Higuchi’s superior technique was evident in the first few seconds when he attacked Aman’s legs to take a 4-0 lead.

The Japanese, a former world champion in 2022 at Belgrade in the 61kg category, kept up the pressure on the Indian, targeting Aman’s legs and effecting regular throw downs with ease to garner six more points to end the contest.

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Anshu Malik loses

Woman grappler Anshu Malik displayed great determination but could not breach the defence of USA’s vastly experienced Helen Louise Maroulis, losing 2-7 in the 57kg pre-quarterfinals.

It was a rematch of the 2021 World Championship final in Oslo where Anshu had to settle for silver against the American.

Anshu was up against one of the most reputed wrestlers in the world, but she fought with a lot of gumption to concede just two points in the first round. Helen attacked Anshu’s left leg and then pushed the Indian to the mat to take a 2-0 lead.

The Indian then held Helen, a three-time world champion, at bay in the first round before the American came back to showcase her pedigree in the second and win despite getting a warning.

Anshu’s hopes of qualifying for the bronze-medal bout via ‘repechage’ were also dashed later in the day after Maroulis, the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist and Tokyo Games bronze medallist, suffered a 4-10 loss at the hands of Japan’s Tsugumi Sakurai.

With PTI inputs