Aman Sehrawat dethrones Ravi Dahiya to become new Asian champion in 57kg category

Aman Sehrawat (Pic courtesy: @Media_SAI/Twitter)

Aman Sehrawat impressed yet again on the senior circuit as he bagged gold in the 57kg competition at the Asian Wrestling Championships after defeating Kyrgyzstan's Almaz Smanbekov 9-4 in the final. Sehrawat, who trains at Delhi's famed Chhatrasal stadium, is the first Indian to win the top honours in the senior category.

The U-23 world champion maintained the legacy of three-time champion Ravi Dahiya to win the Asian Championships title in freestyle 57kg beating Smanbekov. Earlier, he got the better of Japan's Rikuto Arai 7-1 in the quarterfinal before beating China's Wanhao Zou 7-4 in the semifinal.

This is a second podium finish of the 2023 season for Sehrawat, who had won a bronze at the Zagreb Open in February.

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Meanwhile, Deepak Kukna (79kg) and Deepak Nehra (97kg) will fight for bronze medals after losing their respective semifinals even as Anuj Kumar (65kg) and Mulayam Yadav (70kg) could not reach the medal round.

With Sehrawat's gold, India have won 12 medals so far in the competition. The Greco-Roman wrestlers won four medals while the women grapplers grabbed seven.

Earlier in February this year, Sehrawat had clinched a bronze medal at the Zagreb Open Wrestling Championships. The 17-year-old Aman defeated Zane Raye Rhodes Richards of USA 10-4 on points in the bronze medal contest to finish on the podium of the ranking tournament.

Aliabbas Rzazade of Azerbaijan bagged the gold, beating Yuto Nishiuchi of Japan 2-0 in the final. The other bronze was won by Beka Bujiashvili of Georgia, who beat Islam Bazarganov of Azerbaijan.

Aman had earlier defeated Roberti Dingashvili of Georgia in the quarterfinals, before losing to Nishiuchi in the semifinals, to qualify for the repechage round as his Japanese opponent went on to reach the final.