Aman Sehrawat overturned a 7-6 deficit to beat World Champion Han Chong Song 11-7 in the men’s 57-kilogram freestyle final at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Oct. 3. Han had taken the lead, but Sehrawat answered with a four-point move, added a point after Han’s unsuccessful challenge, then pinned and turned him with less than a minute left. The score settled who controlled the bout.
A Lead That Changed Hands
The wrestlers stayed level early. Sehrawat defended against Han’s repeated attacks, then moved 6-1 ahead just after halftime. For a stretch, Han couldn’t break through a defense that kept him from taking control of the scoring.
Then Han counterattacked. He scored six points in quick succession and went ahead 7-6, reversing the match’s direction. The points shifted the advantage: Sehrawat’s earlier lead offered no guarantee, and Han’s late surge put the champion in front.
Injury delays interrupted the contest. After one delay, Sehrawat quickly built his 6-1 lead. A later break for Han came before the North Korean regained momentum and moved ahead. The reported sequence gives the interruptions a clear place in the match, but the final measure stayed the same: the score when the bout ended.
The Final Turn
With less than a minute left, Sehrawat pinned and turned Han to regain the lead. He held on for the win. Earlier, a four-point move had put Sehrawat back in front, and Han’s unsuccessful challenge brought another point for Sehrawat. The final 11-7 result followed a lead that moved from Sehrawat to Han and back again.
Han entered the final as a World Champion, but that title didn’t decide the contest. Sehrawat’s defense, scoring sequence, and late pin and turn did. The bout ended with the Indian wrestler winning gold, while Han’s brief advantage wasn’t enough to secure the result.
A Second Medal, India’s Second Gold
The gold marked Sehrawat’s second Asian Games medal. He won bronze in the same category at Hangzhou 2022, four years before this victory. The result changed the medal attached to his name in this category: bronze then, gold now.
It was also India’s second freestyle wrestling gold at these Games. Sujeet Kalkal won the 65-kilogram gold on Friday. Those are the results reported from the competition; the article gives no account of a grassroots response or community organizing around the event. On the mat, the decisive power belonged to the wrestler who could score, defend, and keep the lead when the final seconds arrived. Sehrawat did that. The scoreboard recorded the win.