Indian wrestlers Aman Sehrawat and Antim Panghal's path to the medals at the Paris Olympics look clear as United World Wrestling announced the player seedings on Friday. Aman is seeded #6 in the men's 57kg freestyle, while Antim is seeded #4 in the women's 53kg - while Vinesh Phogat has gone unseeded. This is the first time wrestling will have seedings at the Olympics.
How does the seeding system work?
The top-8 wrestlers in each weight category have been allotted seeds and the remaining eight wrestlers will be randomly drawn into the empty brackets on the eve of the competition. Each weight category has 16 participants.
The top half of the 16-member draw features the #1, #4, #5, and #8 seeded wrestlers.
The bottom half will feature #2, #3, #6, and #7 seeded wrestlers.
What does the seeding mean for Aman and Antim?
For Aman: Seeded sixth, he will be in the bottom half of the draw alongside -
Japan's Rei Higuchi: Aman lost to him in the Hungary Ranking Series in June
Armenia's Arsen Harutyunyan: They have not faced each other earlier
China's Wanhao Zou: Aman beat him in the final of the Croatia Ranking Series in January and enroute his Asian Championships gold medal last year.
Aman could face Harutyunyan in the quarterfinal and if he gets past him, then a potential semifinal against Higuchi is on the cards.
For Antim: Antim's #4 seeding gives her a relatively smooth path to the medal rounds. She avoids some big names such as two-time world champion Akari Fujinami, two-time European champion Emma Malmgren and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Qianyu Pang.
Antim is drawn in the top half of the draw with -
Ecuador's Lucia Yepez: Top seed at the Paris Olympics, World championships bronze medallist and former World U23 champion
Greece's Maria Prevolaraki: Three-time World bronze medallist and three-time Olympian
Romania's Andreea Ana: Three-time European champion and former World U23 champion [all in 55kg]
Antim has not faced any of the above wrestlers so far. She is likely to run into Prevolaraki in the quarterfinal and Yepez in the semis. Antim and Yepez had both won bronze medals at the 2023 World Championships.
What are Aman and Antim's medal chances?
Aman will have a couple of tough bouts to make it to the medal rounds as he will need to beat Harutyunyan in the quarterfinal. The Armenian has a very impressive resume: two U23 World Championship gold medals, three World Championship bronzes and four European Championship titles. If he finds a way past him, another strong competitor awaits Aman in Higuchi. The Japanese won silver in the 2016 Olympics and the World Championships in 2022.
Antim should make it to the semifinal without a hiccup, where she will fancy her chances against Yepez.
If they fail to make it to the final, Aman and Antim will have a shot at bronze if they reach the semifinals as that would make them eligible for the bronze-medal bout or via the repechage route.
Why are Aman and Antim the only Indian wrestlers seeded at the Paris Games?
Out of the six Indian wrestlers who have qualified for the Paris Olympics, Aman and Antim are the only ones who are seeded owing to their ranking points. Aman has accumulated 26,400 points and Antim has 37,400 points from competing at the 2023 World Championships, 2024 Continental Championships and the Zagreb Open and Hungarian Ranking Series events in 2024.
2023 World Championships: Aman finished 11th, Antim clinched the bronze.
2024 Continental Championships: Neither competed in any events at the Asian level.
Zagreb Open Ranking Series: Aman took home the gold, Antim did not participate
Hungary Ranking Series: Aman and Antim both bagged silver.
The four other Indian wrestlers who will go to Paris are Vinesh Phogat [50kg], Anshu Malik [57kg], Nisha Dahiya [68kg] and Reetika Hooda [76kg] - who did not accumulate enough points in the four ranking events and are thus, unseeded. They will be directly entered into the bracket at random on the eve of their respective competitions.
Will the lack of seeding affect the medal chances of Vinesh Phogat and co.?
For starters, the lack of seeding will affect preparations - where Aman and Antim can make educated guesses on which opponents they will face in their half of the draw, thereby fine-tuning what tactics to employ against said opponents, the likes of Vinesh, Anshu, Nisha and Reetika will be going in blind. They will not know their opponents (and progression through the brackets) until the eve of the competition in Paris, necessitating broad strategies in preparation, and only last-minute tweaks once their opponents are known.
However, the fact that Vinesh is not seeded will not largely alter her preparations as there was no seeding system in her two previous Olympic campaigns.
The lack of seeding also means it is likely that unseeded Indian quartet will be drawn against tough opposition early. Vinesh could potentially face top seed Yui Sasaki (who won gold in Tokyo without conceding a point) in the first round or even seventh seed Mariya Stadnik (bidding to be the first-ever wrestler to win five Olympic medals). There are multiple world championship medallists that Vinesh could face in her first round, given the depth of competition in the 50kg field. Lose that, and Vinesh's only hopes of a medal will rest on a repechage then.
What are India's wrestlers doing in the run-up to the Paris Olympics?
Aman was in action last month when he bagged silver at the Budapest Ranking Series and is now in Dagestan, Russia for a final training camp before he heads to Paris for the Olympics. Antim made a comeback after eight months, also in Budapest, to finish with a silver. She snapped up two wins before losing to Malmgren in Budapest last month.
Vinesh won the Spanish Grand Prix last week and will soon head to Boulogne sur-Mer in France to prepare for the Olympics. Nisha part of the WFI's training camp in Hungary alongside Vinesh, while the three other women wrestlers opted to skip that and train with their coaches in India.
Reetika and Anshu both won silvers in Budapest, but there is a cause of concern now as Anshu is reportedly nursing an injured shoulder.