Aman Sahrawat: A long struggle to win a medal at the Paris Olympics
News Bureau August 10,2024
After Vinesh Phogat’s exit due to overweight, Aman and his team took no chances in deciding how to maintain his weight within the limit. Aman Sehrawat felt it was necessary to lose something first to gain something. When the weighing machine showed Aman weighing 61.5 kg on Thursday after losing the semi-final to eventual champion Rei Higuchi, weight became a challenge for Aman before he could enter the bronze medal play-off. Wrestler Aman Sehrawat had to lose 4.5 kg in the stipulated time of 10 hours before the mandatory second day weigh-in to qualify for the 57 kg bout.
Nevertheless, Aman Sehrawat has secured the bronze medal. But the stories of this hero started coming out only after he won the medal. The Haryana wrestler had to do more than just lose weight to compete. Aman Sehrawat bends to hold the right leg of Toi Darian Cruz on Friday. He got hold of his strong body, spun him brutally and slammed him on the mat, Aman Sehrawat emerged as the winner.
Continuing the tradition of Olympic medals in wrestling, the 21-year-old won a bronze medal to take India’s medal tally to six at the Paris Olympics. This was India’s fifth consecutive Olympic wrestling medal, starting with Sushil Kumar in 2008. He may have stepped onto the mat on Friday evening, but Aman Sehrawat’s real fight was the night before – with himself. The same weight-loss guy mentioned earlier.
Aman wanted to win this medal not just for the country but also for his parents. Aman Sehrawat was 10 when he lost his mother, who was suffering from depression. A year later, he lost his father, who could not bear the untimely demise of his wife. Sehrawat became an orphan at the age of 11. “This medal is for them (parents), who don’t even know that I became a wrestler, that there is something called Olympics. At that time, I did not know that,” Sehrawat said.
The 12-year-old stayed with his uncle but a few months later, he was brought to the Chhatrasal Academy, where, under a residential programme, young children were admitted and moulded into champion wrestlers. The coaches at the renowned academy did not check Sehrawat’s potential. They took him along out of sympathy, thinking that if nothing else, they would at least get the skinny, underweight and shy young boy two meals a day.
His trainers say Aman Sehrawat took to the new environment like a duck to water and immersed himself in the arduous life of a wrestler: waking up before the sun rises, climbing a giant tree with ropes, grappling in the mud and training on the mat. This is what we call ‘tapasya’ in our academy.
Chhatrasal’s place in Indian wrestling is undisputed. India’s male Olympic medallists this century – Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya – have either spent their entire lives, or at some point trained at this centre in north Delhi. It’s not for the faint of heart. However, the akhadas produce wrestlers of warlike calibre who not only dominate domestic competitions but also conquer the world.
