On Raksha Bandhan, Aman Sehrawat, the country’s only wrestler to win a medal at the Paris Olympics, was at his home away from home in Munda Khera village in Jhajjar. He was calling on the family of Sagar Phalswal, Aman’s senior and his roommate at the Chhatrasal akhada. Sagar’s sister Priyanka tied rakhis on the wrists of both Aman and Sagar.
On the menu was dal, roti, sabji and churma. The two wrestlers, one a household name post the Paris Olympics and the other a journeyman, sat down as equals and enjoyed a home-cooked meal.
When Aman, 21, beat Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz to win bronze and become India’s youngest Olympic medallist earlier this month, he said a quiet word of gratitude to Sagar even before he got off the mat. Sagar, 27, was thousands of kilometres away, streaming Aman’s repechage bout on his mobile phone while seated in the small room they share at the Chhatrasal Stadium.
At the centre of the story of Aman’s rise as the country’s best male wrestler is Sagar, his friend, mentor, guide and much more.
Bronze medalist India’s Aman Sehrawat poses for photos during the medal ceremony for the men’s 57kg free-style wrestling event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Sagar has done more for him than a brother would, says Aman. Sagar calls their 10-year-old bond a ‘bhagwan ki jodi‘.
The two first met at Chhatrasal after Aman lost both his parents within six months — first, his mother who was struggling to cope with mental health. His father, heartbroken, passed away a few weeks after Aman joined Chhatrasal.
Ten-year-old Aman, sharing a room with 20 other young trainees at the famous akhada, where the competition is cut-throat, found a mentor in Sagar, six years his senior.
“The early days at Chhatrasal were tough… when you are 10 and you lose your parents… And then you are away from home. Sagar has been my support right through. He would solve my problems. Any issues I had, he would say, ‘I will take care of it’. If I needed money, whether it was about my diet or my technique. He was the one who helped me. Bhai se bhi badhkar (More than a brother). Even an own brother won’t do as much for a brother. It is a deep bond,” Aman says.
Bronze medalist India’s Aman Sehrawat poses for photos during the victory ceremony for the men’s 57kg free-style wrestling event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France. (PTI)
Sagar is the one person who has access to the keys to the Almirah drawer in which the Olympic bronze is kept.
The senior wrestler started to look out for Aman because he felt the orphan needed an older brother at the akhada, someone who could also be like a father figure. He also felt Aman was a gem of a boy. “Sharafat bhi bahut achi hai… (He was very courteous). Till today he has never lied to me even once.”
When Aman stood on the podium at the Champ-de-Mars Arena, Sagar said it was the happiest moment of his life. “When he was on the podium, my heart was filled with joy and pride. Of course, the first thing I told him when he called me after winning the bronze was ‘you should have won gold’. But that was a spur-of-the-moment reaction. I felt like I had won an Olympic medal because I know his journey,” Sagar says.
For days before the 57kg competition Sagar would have disturbed sleep, tossing and turning in bed worried about the outcome of Aman’s debut Olympics. “It is only after he won a medal that I could get a good night’s sleep,” Sagar says.
Decade-old friendship
The senior wrestler has been invested in Aman’s career for a decade.
Sagar enrolled at Chhatrasal akhada as a 15-year-old in 2012, two years before Aman made the trip from Birohar in Jhajjar to the North Delhi sports facility.
Monitoring his diet, keeping a tab on his sleep patterns, ensuring he does not neglect his studies, making sure his passport is sent on time for visa applications and giving him pocket money when he travelled for competitions, Sagar is Aman’s go-to person.
When double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar was around at Chhatrasal, he had predicted that Aman Sehrawat (in picture) would one day win an Olympic medal. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)
They first shared a room in 2018 along with two other wrestlers. Two years later, when Aman won the junior national title, he and Sagar were upgraded to a twin-sharing room, a perk reserved for only the very best at Chhatrasal akhada. The call was taken by two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar, who was in charge of the akhada back then.
“In 2020 I won the junior nationals though I was still eligible to compete in the sub-junior. Sushil Pehelwan saw that I had a future and gave me and Sagar a separate room,” Aman said.
In a way, Sushil was only ensuring that tradition was being followed.
Senior wrestlers guiding youngsters is an age-old concept in akhadas, at Chhatrasal the unwritten rule is that knowledge must be passed down from generation to generation. Ghee, badam, milk are shared and so are secrets of technique gained over years of training. This is how Olympic medals are minted here.
Paris Olympic-bound Aman Sehrawat trains at the Chhatrasal Stadium . (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)
There was a time when a young Bajrang Punia couldn’t thank Yogheshwar Dutt enough for grooming him at Chhatrasal. The two Olympic medallists are no longer on the best of terms. They were in different camps during the protest by women wrestlers last year. Being in the same weight class also didn’t help matters in the long run.
The possibility of Sagar and Aman meeting on the wrestling mat and challenging each other were nil. Sagar is a Greco-Roman wrestler, Aman competes in freestyle.
“I even advise him on technique although I am a Greco wrestler. Chhatrasal is a good freestyle centre with good coaches, so watching people train you tend to learn,” Sagar says.
Giving up Olympic dreams
Sagar is no longer actively competing. In 2018, he joined the Indian Air Force as a Junior Warrant Officer. Around that time, he gave up on his Olympic dreams.
“I knew I would not reach that level, but Aman would be able to. I thought that what I could not do, he would be able to do,” Sagar says. Sagar kept aside a chunk of his salary for Aman.
Wrestling as a career choice was make-or-break for a young Aman.
Aman Sehrawat of India in action with Zelimkhan Abakarov of Albania. (Reuters)
“My father had brought me here (Chhatrasal) and told me to become a good pehelwan. Five to six months later he expired. At that point, I knew I had to make it in wrestling. Our family’s financial situation wasn’t great so I took it upon myself. I knew without an Olympic medal, I would not make it. I am indebted to my coaches but without Sagar I would not have been able to achieve all this,” Aman recalls.
The two of them are inseparable, says Pradeep, a coach at Chhatrasal, who was Sushil’s sparring partner. Pradeep and Sushil shared a bond similar to Aman-Sagar.
Before the Paris Olympics, Sagar travelled to Makhachkala, the capital of wrestling hub Dagestan, Aman’s training base.
Post Olympics, Sagar has an additional task — media training for Aman.
The Olympic bronze medallist says he is more anxious when facing a mic than during a bout. “My heart would go ‘dhak dhak’. When people from the media wanted to meet me, I used to tell coaches to say that I am not available. It is because I didn’t know how to talk,” Aman says.
Wresltler Aman Sehrawat trains at the Chhatrasal Stadium in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)
Earlier this week, Aman had a series of interviews lined up. He was hard-pressed for time because of a 2 pm appointment, which he could not miss. Sagar quickly scanned the basement area to count the number of cameras. “This is just for a week, after that you can get back to training. Don’t worry, all Olympic medallists have to get used to giving interviews” Sagar tells Aman.
Aman is looking forward to a welcome break when he heads home to Birohar at the end of the month. He wants to spend time with his tau (father’s older brother) who adopted Aman and his sister Pooja, after their parents passed away, like they were his own children.
“Since returning from the Olympics, I have not got time to go home because of functions and felicitations. I want to spend at least a week at home and visit temples too. Since I joined Chhatrasal, I have made just one-day visits home. I am indebted to my tau for taking care of my sister and me. I want to share the joy of being an Olympic medalist with them,” Aman says.
The villagers have planned a grand function when Aman heads to Birohar. Sagar will be by his side when he returns home to a hero’s welcome. Like he has all these years, through thick and thin.