Wrestler Aman Sehrawat Loses Paris Olympics Semifinal Bout, To Fight For Bronze

Young Indian grappler Aman Sehrawat lost to Japanese top-seed Rei Higuchi in the 57kg free-style semifinal bout as the country's hopes of winning a gold from wrestling suffered a big blow at the Olympics in Paris on Thursday. The 21-year-old Aman will now play for the bronze medal against Puerto Rico's Darian Toi Cruz on Friday. Aman, who had raised hopes of securing a place in the final following two big victories against celebrated opponents in the earlier rounds, was no match for the 28-year-old Higuchi -- the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist -- as the Japanese toyed with the Indian to stamp his technical superiority with a 10-0 win in just over two minutes.

Higuchi's superior technique was evident in the first few seconds when he attacked Aman's legs to take a 4-0 lead.

The Japanese, a former world champion in 2022 at Belgrade in the 61kg category, kept up the pressure on the Indian, targeting Aman's legs and effecting regular throw downs with ease to garner six more points to end the contest.

Aman had earlier rekindled the country's hopes, demolishing former world champion Zelimkhan Abakarov of Albania by technical superiority to seal a place in the semifinal.

Aman was in imperious form as he toyed with Abakarov in the second round. Aman locked the opponent's legs at the start of the second round and flipped him over multiple times to earn eight straight points to secure a 12-0 victory.

The bout started with Aman earing a passivity point after his Russian-turned-Albanian opponent did not initiate any attacking move.

Moments later, the Indian effected a left-leg hold to earn two more points to showcase his dominance by going 3-0 up at the end of round 1.

Aman was on song in round 2 and Abakarov, world champion in