Paris Olympics: 'We have 100 pc chance in bronze medal match', says wrestler Aman's assistant coach Jaiveer Singh

PARIS: As Aman Sehrawat prepares to compete for a bronze medal in the men's 57kg freestyle wrestling at the Paris Olympics, his assistant coach at Chhatrasal Stadium, Jaiveer Singh is confident that the 21-year-old will finish his campaign with a medal.

Aman, a former Asian and U23 world champion, will face Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz, a Pan American Games medallist, for the bronze medal on Friday at 9:45 pm.

"We have 100% chance in the bronze medal match. Aman's workout was scheduled for four hours every morning and evening. He is a very smart, bright, and hardworking child. We are hoping he will bring back a medal in wrestling," Jaiveer told IANS.

The wrestler from Haryana started his campaign in a dominant fashion as he registered two consecutive technical superiority wins in his first two bouts. He cruised past former European champion North Macedonia’s Vladimir Egorov by a 10-0 technical superiority in his round of 16 bout before dismantling Albania's Zelimkhan Abakarov, the 2022 world champion and fourth seed, 12-0 in the quarterfinals.

He, however, lost to Japan’s Rei Higuchi, a former world champion and silver medal winner from Rio 2016, in the semifinals via TSU.

"He lost in defense, otherwise, he fought well because he had won via technical superiority in his first two bouts. There was no lack of effort on his part, but at such a high level, a bit of luck also plays a role. If he had just held on for the first 2-3 minutes, the bout would have been ours," Jaiveer reflected on Aman's performance.

Jaiveer further mentioned that Ravi Dahiya, who won the silver medal in the same weight category at Tokyo 2020, also sent his best wishes to Aman for his medal bout. Interestingly, Aman had defeated Dahiya in the trials to earn the right to represent India in the men's 57kg category at Paris 2024.

A total of six wrestlers are representing India at the Paris 2024 Olympics, of which Aman is the lone male wrestler.

Nisha Dahiya was eliminated in the quarterfinals of women’s 68kg on Monday. Vinesh Phogat made it to the final in the women’s 50kg division on Tuesday but was disqualified after she failed the weigh-in on Wednesday.

Anshu Malik, competing in her second Olympics, lost her round of 16 bout against the USA’s Helen Maroulis while Antim also lost in her opening bout.

Reetika Hooda, in the women’s 76kg division, starts her campaign on Saturday.