Olympic medallist wrestler Aman Sehrawat has been in the news for all the wrong reasons after he was handed a one-year suspension by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for missing the weigh in at the World Championships last month. Aman, who competes in the 57kg category, on Monday accepted his mistake and said that he will ask the WFI to reconsider the decision, which, if not revoked, might result in him missing the Asian Games next year. "This is the first such mistake, and I am embarrassed about it. But it wasn't intentional and happened due to a stomach ache developed a night before the weigh in," Aman told reporters on the sidelines of a felicitation ceremony organized by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Aman, whose natural body weight is 62kg, starts reducing his weight one week before a tournament, but this time he couldn’t do so due to a stomach ache and, as a result, was overweight ahead of the weigh in. "I start losing weight one week ago any event. One day before the tournament, I had extra weight of 600 or 700 grams. That is normal, and I thought I would cut it before the weigh in," Aman said. However, due to the increasing pain in his stomach , he couldn't continue his gym session and had to go to his room. "I was in immense stomach pain, and I took a medicine. I went to my room thinking it would get better, but it didn't happen," he said. "I planned to wake up in the morning at 4 am and do one gym session, but the stomach kept hurting." After Aman missed his weight at the World Championships, WFI sent him a show cause notice asking him to explain the lapse, since he was a medal contender. Following the show cause notice, Aman appeared in front of the federation’s disciplinary committee and told his side of the story. However, the disciplinary committee deemed his explanation unsatisfactory and suspended him last week from all wrestling activities on Tuesday, effective September 23. Will request WFI Aman said that he will ask the WFI chief once again to reconsider the suspension. "See, I was prepared for the gold. The current gold medallist lost to me last year, and I was confident this time, but the stomach ache was unfortunate and I couldn't do this anything. I haven't spoken to Sanjay Singh (WFI Chief) after the ban, but I'll meet him and request him to reconsider this," said Aman. Earlier last week, Singh told this daily that they would give Aman another chance to tell his side of the story. "The decision was taken as we expect top notch discipline from Aman as he is an Olympic medallist. We will give him one more chance," he had said. Asked if the disciplinary committee will call him again, he said, "No. I have not been told anything." If the ban runs its course, Aman would miss the Asian Games, which is scheduled from September 19 to October 4, 2026, in Japan, which remains a big tournament for him. However, the 22-year-old is optimistic about his chances of competing at the continental event. ”If the ban is revoked, I plan to play at the Asian Championships next year, which I missed due to injury this time. Asian Games will be top priority because it comes once in four years," he concluded. This is the second such case of an Indian wrestler failing to make weight at a World Championships. Earlier in the month of August, Neha Sangwan was barred by UWW from competing in the 59kg category at the U20 World Championships. Neha was banned for two years by WFI in the aftermath. IOA felicitates Paris medallists On Monday, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) felicitated the medallists from the 2024 Paris Olympics in the presence of the Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and IOA President PT Usha. The IOA handed Rs 75 lakh reward for Neeraj Chopra’s silver medal, while the bronze medallists got Rs 50 lakh each. The hockey team got 1.8 crore in total, with each player receiving 10 lakhs each. Apart from the athletes, the coaches were also felicitated, with Neeraj's former coach, Dr. Klaus Bartonietz, getting 20 lakh and coaches of bronze medallists getting 15 lakh each.
