NEW DELHI: Young grappler Aman Sehrawat opened India's gold medal account at the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday.
Sehrawat clinched the gold medal in the 57kg category, defeating Kyrgyzstan's Almaz Smanbekov in the summit clash.
Sehrawat, who continued to impress on the senior circuit, beat Smanbekov 9-4 in the final on the penultimate day of the championships.
Sehrawat, who trains at Delhi's famed Chhatrasal Stadium, had earlier beaten Japan's Rikuto Arai 7-1 in the quarter-final before getting better of China's Wanhao Zou 7-4 in the semi-final.
It was the second podium finish of the 2023 season for Sehrawat, who had won a bronze at the Zagreb Open in February. He had won the U-23 World Championships last year.
Two other Indians also reached the bronze-medal round on Thursday.
Deepak Kukna (79kg) and Deepak Nehra (97kg) will fight for bronze medals after losing their respective semi-finals. Whereas Anuj Kumar (65kg) and Mulayam Yadav (70kg) could not reach the medal round.
With Sehrawat's gold, India have won 12 medals so far in the competition. The Greco-Roman wrestlers won four medals while the women grapplers grabbed seven.
(With inputs from PTI)
