3 wrestlers who narrowly missed out on a medal at Paris 2024 Olympics ft. Vinesh Phogat
Aman Sehrawat and veteran Vinesh Phogat were among the six members of the Indian wrestling team that competed in the Paris 2024 Olympics in an attempt to win a gold medal. Aman Sehrawat won a bronze in the 57kg class at the Paris Olympics, extending India's Olympic wrestling medal run that started at the 2008 Beijing Games. Aman became the youngest Indian to win an Olympic medal for himself at the age of 21.
He enters the ranks as the sixth wrestler in the nation and the fifth member of the Chhatrasal stable (after Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Ravi Dahiya, and Bajrang Punia). In a total of 18 medal events in the sport of wrestling, India competed in just six of them with their six wrestlers at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Although India did hold up its legacy of bringing back a medal in wrestling from 2008, this year we also witnessed some heartbreaks. Let us take a look at some wrestlers who narrowly missed out on a medal at Paris 2024 Olympics.
Nisha Dahiya
Making her Olympic debut in style, Nisha Dahiya was looking spectacular on the mat with her moves. She competed in the 68 kg women’s freestyle event in Paris 2024 Olympics and was the lone wrestler from India in that weight category. In her opening bout, she faced Ukraine’s Tetiana Rizhko, whom she beat by a margin of 6-4.
Next, in the quarter-finals, she faced Pak Sol-gum of the People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and was putting up a great show. Unfortunately, she suffered an injury during her bout and even though she tried her best, she lost the bout 10-8.
Reetika Hooda
The World Under-23 champion in the 76 kg category, Reetika Hooda started off with a bang. She faced the two-time European bronze winner Bernadett Nagy in her first bout. She didn’t just win the game but bossed her way around, defeating her opponent by technical superiority with a score of 12-2.
In the Paris 2024 Olympics quarters, she was leading the game 1-0 till halftime, however, in the second half a small mistake cost her a point and ended the match in a tie. She was extremely unlucky as the winner of the match was decided on the last count basis. She had to drop out of the Olympics following the heartbreaking defeat.
Vinesh Phogat
Vinesh Phogat was one of the unluckiest athletes to have competed in this Olympics edition. She had the biggest challenge in her very first bout in Paris 2024 Olympics, where she was facing the reigning champion Yui Susaki who has been undefeated as long as one can remember. Putting up a brave fight, she kept patience and used her moves at the last minute to secure a win.
Quarters and semis were comparatively easier matches for her, both of which she won and proceeded on to the final. However, the tragedy happened right before the match during the weigh-in when it was discovered that she was a mere 100 grams overweight the limit. She was disqualified and had to end the tournament without a medal even after remaining undefeated.