Paris 2024 Olympics wrestling: Aman Sehrawat secures quota for India; Deepak Punia misses out
This was the sixth Paris 2024 wrestling quota for India but first in the men’s division. Tokyo Olympian Deepak Punia was ousted in the first round.
Asian champion Aman Sehrawat secured a Paris 2024 quota for India in the men’s 57kg freestyle category at the World Wrestling Olympic Qualifiers in Istanbul, Turkiye on Saturday.
Sehrawat, an U23 world champion, beat Chongsong Han of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 12-2 in the semi-final for India’s sixth quota in wrestling for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
However, this was India’s first Paris 2024 quota in men’s freestyle wrestling. All of the previous five quotas were obtained by the Indian women wrestlers.
The Istanbul meet is the final opportunity for wrestlers to obtain a quota for the upcoming Summer Games. Three Paris 2024 Olympic quotas are on offer in each weight class.
The two finalists in each division will obtain Paris 2024 Olympic quotas for their respective countries. The third spot, meanwhile, will go to the winner of the playoff bout between the two bronze medallists in the weight class.
In the earlier rounds, the 20-year-old Sehrawat beat Olympian Georgi Vangelov of Bulgaria 10-4 on the back of five takedowns to move into the quarter-finals. He then set up a bout for quota with a 12-2 win over Andriy Yatsenko of Ukraine.
“I slept last night knowing that I just have to fight for six minutes today,” Aman said. “Whether you win or lose is a different matter. I just wanted to do my fight.”
Deepak Punia, meanwhile, missed out on a quota in the 86kg. The Asian Games silver medallist went down to China’s Zushen Lin 6-4 despite leading 3-0 at one stage in his first bout.
Zushen Lin was later ousted in the quarter-finals, ending Deepak Punia’s hopes for an Olympic quota via repechage route. The Indian wrestler had narrowly missed out on a medal at the Tokyo Olympics after finishing fifth.
A total of six Indian wrestlers competed on Saturday in the Olympic qualifiers.
Sujeet Kalkal reached the semi-finals but lost to the Asian Games champion Tomor-Ochiryn Tulga of Mongolia in the match for quota place 6-1. He will have another chance to secure an Olympic quota on Sunday through the playoff route.
Jaideep Ahlawat, competing in the men’s 74kg, will also have another shot at securing a quota through repechage on Sunday. Jaideep had lost to Tajmuraz Salkazanov of Slovakia 3-0 in the quarter-finals.
Earlier in the day, Deepak (97kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg) lost their first-round bouts to make an early exit.
The World Wrestling Olympic Qualifiers will conclude on Sunday.