Asian Games
Asian Games Wrestling: Aman Sehrawat wins bronze, Bajrang falters
Aman Sehrawat clinched the bronze medal in wrestling at the Asian Games 2023 while Bajrang Punia faltered on his return.
Young wrestler Aman Sehrawat clinched a bronze medal in the 57 kg category of wrestling on his debut at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China on Friday.
Current Asian Champion Aman started off easy in the 57 kg category as he won his first bout against Kim Sunggwon of Korea with a score of 6-1.
In the quarterfinal, Aman was up against Ebrahim Mahdi Khari and the Iranian came all-out attacking the first half of the bout and took consecutive points to lead 8-1 at one point of time.
Aman quickly recovered to take two points and end the first half at 3-8.
Coming in the second half, Aman decimated the Iranian with 16 straight points to win the bout with a score of 19-8 via technical superiority. His moves included a right leg attack where he tried to pin the Iranian but the Iranian survived, although he failed to sustain Aman's technical prowess.
Up against Japan's Toshihiro Hasegawa, Aman again trailed 1-6 but he made it 5-6 hinting at another comeback but the Japanese wrestler maintained his lead. The high-scoring bout ended 12-10 in the favour of Hasegawa.
Talking about his medal win, Aman said," I have now won a medal in the Asian Games and I will start preparing for the Olympics. I was largely in control of the semifinal bout but in the middle section, I gave away an extra point which was too much for me to recover from."
In the bronze medal match, Aman defeated local favourite Liu Minghu, who couldn't handle the attacking prowess of Aman and lost 0-11.
Bajrang Punia falters on his return
Returning to competitive wrestling after a one-year gap, an under-pressure Bajrang Punia was routed 1-8 by Iran's Rahman Amouzadkhalili in the semifinals and then lost against Yamaguchi of Japan in the bronze medal match 10-0.
An under-prepared Bajrang started against an easy rival in Ronil Tubog winning 10-0. In the next round, Alibeg Alibegov, was expected to put up a good fight but Bajrang was hardly troubled by the Bahrain wrestler. Bajrang showed good defense to walk out a 4-0 winner.
Taking the mat for his toughest test of the day, Bajrang was thrashed 8-1 by the 2022 world champion and reigning Asian champion, who stunned the Indian with a four-pointer at the start of the bout.
