U23 World Wrestling championship: Aman Sehrawat wins first-ever gold for India

PONTEVEDRA: The Indian contingent at the U23 World Wrestling championship saw the biggest victory on Saturday as Aman Sehrawat, the Indian teenager, made history on Saturday by being the first wrestler from India to win a gold medal at the U-23 World Wrestling Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.

Ahmet Duman of Turkey, who had won the junior European silver medal, was defeated 12-4 by the 16-year-old Aman Sehrawat in the gold-medal match.

Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya had advanced to the final in their respective divisions in prior competitions, but they were only able to take home the silver.

Earlier this year, Aman Sehrawat took home gold in the U23 Asian Championship and silver at the U20 Asian Championship.

India placed sixth overall in the U-23 World Wrestling Championships 2022 with six gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Sajan Bhanwala won a bronze medal at the U23 world wrestling championships, becoming the first Greco-Roman wrestler from India to do so before Vikas and Nitesh.

The wrestler got the better of Ukraine's Dmytro Vasetskyi in the repechage round to win the historic medal.

The Indian secured a 10-10 victory by points over his Ukrainian counterpart. After securing a 3-0 win in the first round against Lithuanian Aistis Liaugminas, the athlete lost to Moldova's Alexandrin Gutu in the pre-quarters 0-8.

However, Sajan got shy at the bronze medal via the repechage system after Gutu made it into the finals of the 77 kg round.

The ace athlete grabbed the opportunity with both hands to create history for India.

Only nine Indian wrestlers were able to participate in the competition because 21 athletes were not allowed to reach Spain because of visa problems.