Olympics 2024 Wrestling: Aman moves to semis, Anshu hopes for repechage

Young Indian wrestler Aman Sehrawat produced a brilliant performance against former world champion Zelimkhan Abakarov of Albania and stunned him in the quarter-final of the men's 57kg category at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.

Aman defeated Abakarov 12-0 via technical superiority and entered the semi-finals.

The first round ended with a 1-0 score in the favour of Aman as Abakarov was given a passivity count.

However, in the second round, Aman toyed with Abakarov. First, he locked his legs in the start and took him down to earn the two points.

After that, Aman effectively executed 'fitley' also known as leg lace turning the Albanian several times to win eight straight points and take the technical superiority victory.

Abakarov contested the last two points awarded to Aman but the referee ruled in favour of the Indian and awarded him a point.

Aman will meet Japanese top seed Rei Higuchi in the last four.

Earlier, Aman ensured himself an easy passage into the quarterfinal with a dominating performance against North Macedonian rival Vladimir Egorov.

The 21-year-old Indian, an Asian Championship gold medallist and the only male wrestler from the country to qualify for the Olympics was amazingly agile as he kept his defence intact while regularly overpowering his 29-year-old former European champion.

Anshu Malik hopes for repechage

In the women's 57kg category, Anshu Malik fought well but failed to breach the defence of the USA's vastly experienced Helen Louise Maroulis, losing 2-7 in the 57kg pre-quarterfinals.

It was a rematch of the 2021 World Championship where Anshu had lost to the American.

Anshu's hopes of qualifying for the bronze-medal bout now hinge on 'repechage' provided Helen, the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist and Tokyo Games bronze medallist, reaches the final.