Aman

Sports Bureau

Aman Sehrawat defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Almaz Smanbekov 9-4 in the final to emerge as the men’s 57kg freestyle champion at the Asian wrestling championships in Astana on Thursday.

Aman, the World under-23 champion, took some time to gather a one-point lead when Almaz was put on the activity clock. The Kyrgyz wrestler fought back through a takedown to lead 2-1, but Aman relied on his attacking game to return the favour and led 3-2 after the first period.

Aman employed a double leg attack to gather two more points but conceded two points as well.

The Indian showed his relentless attacks to secure four more points. Even though picked up an injury above his right eye when 39 seconds were left, Aman remained calm and completed the fight to claim his maiden Asian title.

Earlier, Aman went past Japan’s Rikuto Arai 7-1 and China’s Wanhao Zou 7-4 on his way to the final.

Deepak (79kg) picked up a bronze for India. He beat Mongolia’s Byambadorj Bat Erdene 4-1 but lost 0-10 to Uzbek Bekzod Abdulrakhmonov in the semifinals.

Deepak outsmarted Tajikistan’s Shuhrat Bozorov 12-1 in the bronze medal match.

Commonwealth Games medallist Deepak Nehra (97kg) lost his bronze medal match 9-12 to Uzbekistan’s Makhsud Veysalov.