India’s wrestling hopes received a boost with the seeding of Antim Panghal (53kg) and Aman Sehrawat (57kg) for the upcoming Paris Olympics. The United World Wrestling (UWW) unveiled the seeding for the top eight wrestlers in each weight class, factoring in their performance at the 2023 World Championships, 2024 continental championships, Zagreb Open, and Hungarian ranking series.
Antim Panghal, the World Championships bronze medalist, has been seeded fourth. She finds herself in the top half of the draw, facing a challenging group that includes top-seeded Lucia Yepez Guzman of Ecuador, fifth-seeded Maria Prevolaraki of Greece, and eighth-seeded Andreea Ana of Romania. This means she will avoid a potential clash with some of the top contenders in the bottom half of the draw, including Sweden’s two-time European champion Emma Malmgren (second seed), Japan’s Asian Games champion Akari Fujinami (third), Nigeria’s African champion Christiana Ogunsanya (sixth), and China’s Asian Games silver medalist Qianyu Pang (seventh). Notably, Antim has suffered recent losses to Emma Malmgren.
Aman Sehrawat, an Asian Games bronze medalist, faces a more daunting path. He’ll be in the bottom half of the 57kg draw, encountering formidable opponents like Japan’s 2016 Olympic silver medalist and former World champion Rei Higuchi, Armenia’s three-time World bronze medalist Arsen Harutyunyan, and China’s Wanhao Zou. The top half of the draw features a formidable lineup including World champion Stevan Micic of Serbia, Asian bronze medalist Meirambek Kartbay of Kazakhstan, former World champion Zelimkhan Abkarov of Albania, and Tokyo Olympian and Yasar Dogu ranking series silver medalist Gullomjon Abdullaev of Uzbekistan.
The remaining Indian wrestlers, including two-time Worlds bronze medalist Vinesh Phogat (who has moved down to 50kg), 2021 Worlds silver medalist Anshu Malik (57kg), Asian silver medalist Nisha Dahiya (68kg), and World under-23 champion Reetika Hooda, who remains unseeded, will have their brackets determined through a random draw before the competition begins in Paris.
