India, Aug. 10 -- Aman Sehrawat scripted history on Friday as he won bronze in the men's 57kg freestyle bronze medal playoff. In doing so, he became the first wrestler to win a medal for India in Paris 2024. He also became the youngest wrestler in Indian history to win an Olympic medal. He became the seventh Indian wrestler to clinch an Olympic medal, entering a legendary list containing KD Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya.Sehrawat's feat saw him increase India's medal tally from five to six. Earlier, Manu Bhaker bagged two bronze medals, one in a shooting mixed team event, and the other in individual category. Meanwhile, Swapnil Kusale also won a shooting bronze and Neeraj Chopra got silver in men's javelin throw. The men's hockey team bagged a bronze medal.Sehrawat was born on July 16, 2003, and is currently 21-years-old. He is from Birohar in Haryana's Jhajjar district. He initially began with mud wrestling. Inspired by Sushil Kumar's silver medal triumph in the 2012 Olympics, he joined the Chhatrasal Stadium in New Delhi at the age of 10.Both his parents died due to different medical issues when he was only 11-years-old.

The grappler reigned supreme in his first National C'ship title in 2021, and he used to train under Lalit Kumar. In 2022, he bagged gold at the U-23 Asian C'ships, becoming the first-ever Indian to do so. Then in April 2023, he won gold at the 2023 Asian Wrestling C'ships. He also won bronze at the 2022 Asian Games.He clinched gold in January 2024, in the men's 57kg event of the Zagreb Open, as he cruised past all his opponents by technical superiority.He participated at the 2024 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Istanbul and bagged India's quota place for the Paris Olympics. The WFI then selected him over Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Ravi Dahiya. He is also the only Indian male wrestler to qualify for Paris 2024.He began his Paris 2024 campaign with wins against Macedonia's Vladimir Egorov and Albania's Zelimkhan Abakarov via technical superiority, but then lost to top-seed Rei Higuchi in the semis. He beat Puerto Rico's Darian Crus in the bronze medal playoff.Speaking after is bronze win, Sehrawat dedicated his win to his parents. "This medal is for them," Sehrawat said. "They don't even know that I became a wrestler, that there's something called the Olympics."

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