Young Indian wrestler Aman Sehrawat is set to face Puerto Rican Darian Cruz in the Bronze Medal Match of Men’s Freestlye 57kg event after losing his semi-finals bout to Japanese top-seed Rei Higuchi on Thursday.
Sehrawat was a no-match for Higuchi who outclassed him by technical superiority by 0:10 within two minutes. The 2022 World Champion had attacked the legs of Aman to take a 4:0 lead and garnered six more points through his regular throw-downs to reign supreme in the final four contest.
The 21-year-old had rekindled hopes of a medal in wrestling for India after outclassing former world champion Zelimkhan Abakarov of Albania by technical superiority en route to the semi-finals. He still has a chance of clinching a fifth bronze medal for India in the Paris 2024 with a win over Cruz on Friday.
The Puerto Rican had suffered a 2:12 loss to Rei Higuchi in the other semi-final earlier in the day. He became a three-time Pan American Champion after graduating as the 2017 NCAA Division I national champion out of Lehigh University.
The 29-year-old had qualified for the Paris 2024 as a Pan American Games medallist. Last year, he also clinched a silver medal at the Poland Open (Wacław Ziółkowski Memorial). He is coached by former Olympian, United States’ Pat Santoro.
