Wrestler Aman Powers Into Semis, A Win Away From Olympic Medal; Neeraj & Hockey Team Gun For Glory

New Delhi: A day after Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the women’s 50kg wrestling competition to deny her an assured silver or gold, Aman Sehrawat seems to be in the mood to make amends for India.

The freestyle wrestler from Haryana powered into the semifinals of the men’s 57kg event with two dominating wins on technical superiority on Thursday.

The 21-year-old Aman first outplayed Macedonia’s former European champion Vladimir Egorov 10-0, before ousting Albania’s 2022 World champion Zelimkhan Abakarov 12-0 in the quarterfinals.

Aman, an Asian Championship winner and Asian Games bronze-medallist, will face top-seeded Japanese wrestler Rei Higuchi for a place in the final. The bout is scheduled to start at 9.45 pm (Indian time).

In women’s 57kg, India’s Anshu Malik lost in the first round to American Helen Louise Maroulis.

Anshu will get a shot at bronze if Maroulis beats Japan’s Tsugumi Sakurai in the semifinal.

Before the wrestlers attempt to add to India’s static medal tally of 3 bronze medals, all eyes will be on the men’s hockey third-place match between India and Spain.

PR Sreejesh will look to bow out of the sport on a high as India eye a second successive Olympic hockey bronze. The match gets underway at 5.30 pm.

Closer to midnight, India’s golden boy Neeraj Chopra will aim to become India’s first two-time individual gold-medallist when he takes part in men’s javelin.

Neeraj qualified for the finals with a throw of 89.34 metres in the qualifiers two days ago.