New Delhi: India’s Aman Sehrawat lifted the gloom in his country around wrestling by reaching the semi-final of the 57kg freestyle category at the Paris Olympics on Thursday. A day after Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification after reaching the final, the only male wrestler who qualified from India for the Games reached one step away from the gold medal bout.

Before he left for Paris, Sehrawat had listed the 2022 Belgrade World Championships gold medallist Zalimkhan Abakarov as one of the two wrestlers he was wary of along with Russia’s defending Olympics champion Zavur Uguev. While Uguev is not competing in Paris, Abakarov’s threat loomed over the 2023 Asian champion when they met in the quarter-final on Mat A of Champ-de-Mars Arena at the Paris Olympics.

Having used the first minute struggling to get past each other’s defences, the Albanian was put on the passivity clock. He was unable to score in the stipulated 30 seconds, meaning Aman won the first point. Aman then got the 31-year-old’s left leg to take him down and grab two more points. He was however unable to roll his opponent over, but still led 3-0 at the end of first period.

Aman came flying in the second, attacking Abakarov’s right leg in one burst of energy. He calmly moved to the controlling position and applied four consecutive fiteles, or leg laces, on his shell-shocked opponent to race to a 11-0 margin.

Abakarov appealed for a review, lost and an additional point was awarded to Aman, swelling his scoreline to 12-0 for a dominant win by technical superiority.

The win puts him on the path of Japan’s Rei Higuchi, who decimated Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz in his quarter-final. The top-seeded Japanese wrestler is known for his quick mat work and technical proficiency and is a product of the famous Nippon Sports Science University in Japan’s Yokohama.

The 28-year-old Japanese is an Olympics silver medallist (Rio 2016) and a double Worlds medallist -- gold at 2022 Worlds (61kg) and silver in 2023 (57kg).

The semi-final will be played later on Thursday and a win will assure Sehrawat a medal. The medal rounds, including the repechage, will be contested on Friday. Sehrawat is fighting in a weight category where India won a bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics through Ravi Dahiya.

Earlier, Aman got his campaign off to a flying start, beating North Macedonia’s Vladimir Egorov 10-0 inside four minutes. The 21-year-old Asian Games bronze medallist, the only male wrestler from India to make it to Paris, was resolute in his defence and assertive in attacks. Having worked on his attacking game in the build-up to the Games, he launched a fine all-round attack, notching up six points in the first period before returning 30 seconds later to effect two more throws and run away to a technical superiority win.

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