India's star wrestler Aman Sehrawat, the reigning Asian champion, secured a gold medal in the men's 57kg category at the 2024 Zagreb Open wrestling tournament in Croatia on January 10, Wednesday. Sehrawat earned victory by defeating World no.1 China's Zou Wanhao with an impressive technical superiority score of 10-0, marking India's first medal in this edition of the Ranking Series. It's worth noting that Aman Sehrawat had previously won a bronze medal at the Zagreb Open in the previous year.
In his journey to the gold, Sehrawat dominated his opponents. He started with a convincing 15-4 win over Muhammet Karavus of Turkey in the qualification round, followed by an 11-0 triumph against Roberti Dingashvili of Georgia in the semi-finals. Sehrawat also triumphed over Zane Richards of the USA in the quarter-finals, with an identical 11-0 scoreline.
However, the day didn't yield success for the other two Indian wrestlers, Deepak Punia and Yash. Deepak Punia, competing in the men's 86kg category, suffered a 6-2 defeat in the qualification round against Kazakhstan's Azamat Dauletbekov. Despite Dauletbekov progressing to the final, Deepak Punia had a chance for a bronze medal through the repechage. He managed to secure a 4-1 victory over Ukraine's Valentyn Babii in one of the repechage rounds. Unfortunately, his medal aspirations were dashed with a narrow 4-1 loss to Georgia's Evsem Shvelidze.
As for Yash, he faced a defeat in the round of 16 in the men's 74kg category, losing 15-4 to the USA's Quincy Monday, and he did not advance to the repechage rounds.
Looking ahead, freestyle wrestlers Vicky (men's 97kg) and Sumit (men's 125kg) are set to compete on Thursday.
Earlier in 2022, 20-year-old Aman Sehrawat scripted history to become the first Indian wrestler to win a gold medal at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. Sehrawat had defeated junior European silver-medallist Ahmet Duman of Turkey 12-4 in the final to win the gold.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
India's World Record holder books Paris Olympics quota after winning bronze in 25m pistol event at Asia Qualifiers
IND vs AFG: Dive deep into India vs Afghanistan's Head-to-Head T20I record ahead of series opener in Mohali
Dinesh Karthik set to assist England Lions as batting consultant against Abhimanyu Easwaran-led side
'It's impossible for all the players to play all the time': Dravid defends decision to rest Bumrah, Siraj and Jadeja
Sunil Gavaskar feels Rishabh Pant should be selected in T20 World Cup squad even if he's fit on one leg
