From losing parents in childhood to Asian gold – wrestler Aman Sehrawat follows in famous footsteps
Chhatrasal grappler wins biggest title of young career despite getting injured during the final in Astana.
Aman Sehrawat poses with his gold medal. (Credit: SAI/Twitter) Blood dripping down his face and veins popping out from his biceps, Aman Sehrawat urged the doctors to speed up the mat-side treatment. Concerned that the pause would break his momentum, a frustrated Aman flashed a thumbs-up and waved them on even as the two medics were patching him up.
The 19-year-old could not be faulted for his impatience. He was 39 seconds away from an Asian Championship gold medal in his maiden appearance, enjoying a healthy five-point advantage over his opponent from Kyrgyzstan, Almaz Smanbekov.
After a minute-long medical timeout, when the bout restarted, Aman did enough to stay out of the reach of his opponent, the championship’s bronze medallist from last year. It was the only time in the six-minute gold medal bout that the Indian was evasive. Until then, the young Aman – who eventually won the 57kg final 9-4 – had put up an incredible exhibition of attacking wrestling, using his explosive strength, long reach and fast movements to overpower Smanbekov at Astana in Kazakhstan.
For years, Aman’s upper-body strength and speedy leg-work have been spoken about highly at New Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium. But that’s not what got him into India’s biggest wrestling nursery. “We took him in because he didn’t have anywhere else to go,” says coach Lalit Kumar.\
Asian champion at 57kg ➡️ Aman AMAN 🇮🇳.@DairyMilkIn 🇮🇳 |#CheerForAllSports | #CheerForWrestling | #CadburyDairyMilk | #KuchAchhaHoJaayeKuchMeethaHoJaaye | #WrestleAstana pic.twitter.com/dCZmB8NPQv
— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) April 13, 2023
It was roughly eight years ago, Lalit says, that Aman’s uncle and cousin dropped him at the akhada. The wrestler was 10 when he lost his mother, who had been suffering from depression. A year later, Aman’s father – deeply affected by the untimely death of his wife – passed away as well.
“Aman was 11 years old when he was orphaned. His uncle took care of him but one day, Aman’s (cousin) brother brought him to me,” Lalit says. “I thought, if nothing else, we’ll at least be able to provide him the bare minimum – two proper meals a day.”
Unlike the confident wrestler with bulging biceps that he is today, Lalit says Aman was scrawny and shy when he first met him. They started out at a local akhara in Birohar, a nondescript village in Haryana’s Jhajjar district, before moving to the fabled Chhatrasal Stadium.
Fate might have dealt him an unkind hand but soon, Aman submerged himself into the austere life of a wrestler: wake up before sunrise, climb ropes suspended from a giant tree, grapple in the mud and train on the mat. It’s the kind of lifestyle that’s produced champions. Chhatrasal’s place in Indian wrestling is undisputed – from Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt to Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya, all Olympic medallists have spent their entire sporting life, or at some point trained, at this North Delhi facility.
Learning from the best
Little did Aman know back then that he would be carrying on this rich legacy. “He didn’t have the power or speed initially,” Lalit says. There was natural athleticism but those powers had to be teased out and Aman did it by training relentlessly. “In a way, he had placed all the eggs in one basket. Aman knew if wrestling did not work out for him, there would be nothing else for him to fall back on. So he’d practise very hard and our task, apart from teaching him the correct techniques, was to make him stronger by providing him a rich diet,” Lalit adds.
Apart from the doodh-ghee-badam diet that’s fed to the wrestlers, it helped that he was surrounded by greatness. “Like every wrestler here, Aman grew up watching Sushil, Bajrang, Ravi and Deepak (Punia, a world championship medallist) train. At times, they’d even spar with one another,” Lalit says. “There’s no better learning than this.”
Soon, things began falling into place on the mat for the young man who’d grown up in immense hardship off it. It began with a bronze medal at the World Cadet Championship in 2018, before he claimed the Asian title in the same age group. He went on to become a national champion in 2021 and followed it up with Under-23 Asian and World titles in 2022.
Earlier this year, he picked up his first senior medal – a bronze – at the Ranking Series in Zagreb but Thursday’s gold will be counted as his biggest achievement to date.
Aman earned a direct spot in the quarterfinals by virtue of being seeded fourth and in his first bout of the day, got the better of Japan’s Rikuto Arai, a bronze medallist from last year. He then defeated China’s Wanhoo Luo in the semifinals to set up a clash for the gold medal with Smanbekov. Aman was in attack mode from the first minute, and even though he conceded a couple of easy points, relied on his long reach and speed to target Smanbekov’s ankles for takedowns.
There were occasional skirmishes, one of which led to a cut on his eyebrow. But none of them were serious enough to cause any concern to the Indian, who left the mat with blood on his face and gold around his neck.
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