Asian Wrestling Qualifiers: Aman loses, no Olympics quota for India in men's freestyle

Aman Sehrawat lost to Uzbekistan's Gulomjon Abdullaev in the semifinal of men's 57 Kg at Bishkek Arena, resulting in no Paris Olympics quota place for India in men's freestyle category at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Friday.

It was a horrible day on the mat for Indian men's freestyle wrestlers which added to their despair after the unfortunate news in the morning, that two of the key wrestlers, Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalkal were disqualified as they failed to reach the arena on time. They were stranded at the Dubai airport the night before their bouts due to rain and floods.

India had only one wrestler in the evening session competing for a quota place. But Aman could not win a quota place as Gulomjon humbled him on the mat with a dominating victory lasting for just two minutes.

Aman, who was one of the favourites for India but unluckily drawn with the Uzbek, already competed at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 where he marginally lost to the eventual Olympic champion Zaur Uguev of Russia.

At the Asian Olympic Qualifiers, Aman reached the final after two dominating technical superiority wins over Kazakhstan and South Korean wrestlers in the earlier rounds. Aman alongside all other Indian wrestlers will have a second chance of winning a quota for Paris 2024 at the World Qualifiers in Turkey scheduled from 9-12 May.

Earlier in the day, all three Indian wrestlers bowed out from the competition after losing their opening-round encounters. Jaideep lost a very close bout 2-2 against home favourite Toktomabeto in the quarterfinals while Deepak (97 Kg) and Sumit (125 Kg) lost without little resistance against Japan's Yoshida and Mongolian Lkhagvagerel respectively.

Five Indian female wrestlers led by Vinesh Phogat and Anshu Malik will start their quest for the Paris Olympics quota places on Saturday at 10:00 AM IST.