Zagreb, Feb 2 () Reigning Under-23 world champion freestyle wrestler Aman Sehrawat bagged a bronze medal in the men’s 57kg division at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series here.
Aman took down Zane Richards of the USA with a 10-4 victory in the bronze medal playoff on Wednesday night, securing the first medal for India at Zagreb Open.
Both wrestlers were tied at 4-4 at the end of the first period. The Indian then dominated Richards in the second and collected six straight points to wrap up the win.
Earlier, Aman started well with an 8-2 win over Liu Minghu of China in the qualifications, followed by an 11-8 victory in the quarterfinals. But, he suffered a loss to U20 world champion Yuto Nishiuchi of Japan 5-15 in the semifinals.
In other bouts, Vishal Kaliramana, competing in the men’s 70kg, lost the bronze medal bout to Azerbaijan’s Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev by technical superiority (10-0).
Kaliramana lost against USA’s Alec William Pantaleo in the qualification round but with the American making it to the final, the Indian wrestler made it to the repechage round. He then registered a victory by fall on China’s Agudamu to enter the bronze medal match.
Pankaj Malik, meanwhile, was defeated by Turkey’s Emrah Ormanoglu 5-2 in the first round of the men’s 61kg and could not make it to the repechage.
On Thursday, Pruthviraj Babasaheb Patil (men’s 92kg) and Shivani Pawar (women’s 50kg) will be in action.
bc/bsk