By Vivek Prabhakar
New Delhi [India], January 2 : After being nominated for the Arjun Awards 2024, Indian wrestler Aman Sehrawat opened up and spoke about his next goal which is to get a gold medal for his country in the upcoming 2028 Olympics at Los Angeles.
Sehrawat beat Puerto Rico's Darian Cruz to clinch the bronze medal in the 57 kg freestyle wrestling event at the Paris Olympics last year.
"I am very happy. It is every player's dream to get the Arjuna Award...I am getting a lot of respect from the country, it encourages me a lot. Now my goal is to win a gold medal in the 2028 Olympics," Aman Sehrawat said while speaking to ANI.
The 21-year-old Indian wrestler clinched a 13-5 victory over Cruz.
The Puerto Rican started with a dominating move by getting hold of Aman's single leg and taking him out of the blue zone to win the first point. However, Aman made a comeback and targeted Darian's shoulders to put him outside the blue zone to get two points. Darian got hold of Aman's legs, winning two points and taking the lead. After the end of the first three minutes of the game, Aman once again took the lead in the bronze medal bout.
With only 37 seconds remaining in the match, Aman won two more points and had the chance to clinch a victory with technical superiority.
In the end, Darian tried to make a desperate move but conceded another point. The win made Aman the country's youngest-ever Olympic medalist.
Aman brought India's first wrestling medal at the Paris 2024 in his debut Olympic Games. He became the 7th Indian wrestler to medal at the Olympics.
Double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker, World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Indian men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh and Para Athlete Praveen Kumar have been awarded the prestigious Khel Ratna, according to a statement by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.
Indian men's hockey players Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh and women's hockey team captain Salima Tete have been awarded Arjuna Awards for outstanding performance in Sports and Games 2024.
Indian chess grandmaster Vantika Agrawal and athlete Jyothi Yarraji have also been conferred with Arjuna Awards.
Para athletes Preeti Pal, Jeevanji Deepthi, Ajeet Singh, Sachin Sarjerao Khilari, Dharambir, Pranav Soorma, Hokato Sema, Simran, and Navdeep will also receive Arjuna Awards.
Olympic medalists Swapnil Suresh Kusale and Sarabjot Singh and Para-Olympic shooters Mona Agarwal and Rubina Francis have also been awarded with Arjuna Awards.
Former Dempo FC and East Bengal head coach Armando Agnelo Colaco was also awarded with Dronacharya Award in the lifetime category.
The awardees will receive their awards from President Droupadi Murmu at a specially organized function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 17, 2025.