Asian Wrestling Championships: Aman Sehrawat wins gold medal at Astana

Astana [Kazakhstan], April 13 : Wrestler Aman Sehrawat clinched India's first gold medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday.

Sehrawat claimed the gold medal in the 57 kg category, defeating Kyrgyzstan's Almaz Smanbekov in the final clash.

Sehrawat, who became the first Indian wrestler to win gold at the U-23 world championships in Spain last year, topped the podium in the men's 57kg freestyle category on the penultimate day of the competition.

In the quarter-finals, the Indian wrestler defeated Japan's Rikuto Arai 7-1. Aman Sehrawat defeated China's Zou Wanhao in the semi-finals 7-4.

Aman Sehrawat won the gold medal after defeating Smanbekov, a bronze medalist from the previous year, 9-4 in the final.

"I came here for the gold. There was no other ranking position I wanted to settle for. I made two mistakes in the final. I did watch Almaz's bouts before the final and figured that he relies a lot on counters. But I rushed to score. I thought to myself that I don't get tired easily so I kept trying to score. In the process, I got countered twice. After that, I put my head down and focused," Aman Sehrawat was quoted as saying by Olympics.com after the final win.

This was Sehrawat's second podium of the year. He had won bronze at the Zagreb Open back in January.

Sehrawat's victory in Astana ensured that India retained the men's freestyle 57kg gold medal for the fourth year in a row. Ravi Kumar Dahiya, a silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, won the category in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Ravi Dahiya was forced to withdraw from this year's Asian Championships due to an injury, and Aman Sehrawat took his place in the Indian contingent after qualifying through selection trials.

Meanwhile, Anuj Kumar (65kg) and Mulayam Yadav (70kg) lost in the quarter-finals and the repechage round respectively.

This was India's 12th medal in the competition. The Greco-Roman wrestlers won four medals while the women's wrestlers bagged seven.