Antim Panghal, Aman Sehrawat only Indian wrestlers given seedings

Paris: Indian wrestlers Antim Panghal (women’s 53kg) and Aman Sehrawat (men’s 57kg) have been seeded fourth and sixth in their respective weight categories at the upcoming 2024 Olympics Games in Paris, starting on July 26. For the first time ever at the Olympics, there will be seedings with the top eight wrestlers in each weight class getting the opportunity. The two-time Olympian and country’s medal prospect Vinesh Phogat will be unseeded in the women’s 50kg freestyle category at Paris 2024.

Seedings were awarded based on the Wrestlers’ performances at the 2023 World Championships, 2024 Continental Championships, 2024 Zagreb Open Ranking Series, and the 2024 Hungarian Ranking Series.

The seeding is likely to favour World Championships and Asian Games bronze medallist Antim at the Summer Games.

With her seeding, the Indian wrestler will not face her rival and two-time world champion Akari Fujinami of Japan, Qianyu Pang of the People’s Republic of China, who won silver in Tokyo 2020, and Emma Malmgren of Sweden, who won two European titles, until the medal rounds.

However, she could meet Ecuador’s Lucia Yepez, the World Championships bronze medal winner from last year, in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Aman, the 2023 Asian champion and the 2022 Under-23 world champion, could play Japan’s Rei Higuchi or Armenia’s Arsen Harutyunyan before the medal rounds begin.

Rei Higuchi is a Rio 2016 silver medallist and the 2022 world champion. Aman lost to him at the Hungarian Ranking Series in June while Arsen Harutyunyan won bronze at the 2023 World Championships.

The remaining four Indian wrestlers — Vinesh Phogat (women’s 50kg), Anshu Malik (women’s 57kg), Nisha Dahiya (women’s 68kg) and Reetika Hooda (women’s 76kg) — will be unseeded at Paris 2024. They will be randomly drawn into brackets the day before the women’s freestyle wrestling begins in Paris.

Wrestling at the Paris 2024 Olympics will see competitions in 18 medal events — six each in the men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle, and Greco-Roman. Sixteen wrestlers will compete in each of these events. IANS

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