Aman Sehrawat didn’t brood. On Thursday (August 8, 2024) evening, up against former Olympic silver medallist Rei Higuchi in the semifinals he barely lasted a round. In no time he trailed 10-0 and the bout was stopped — the Japanese declared winner by technical superiority.
There was no time for self pity. The 21-year-old rushed out and began his weight control regime. He had 1.5kg to lose before Friday (August 9, 2024) morning’s weigh-in so that he could make weight for the bronze meal bout.
Aman wasn’t taking any chances.
He pulled on his black sweatsuit and headed to the mat in the training hall. He shadow practised for the next hour and a half. Then he hit the gym. When he stood on the scales three hours later, he saw what he was looking for 56.80. He didn’t drink nor eat, but importantly he went to bed relieved.
“It was hard but not anything more than what he can do. This is what we do,” said coach Virender Singh.
Only after he passed his weigh-in did Aman drink something. By evening, he was ready to go.
That sucked for his opponent Darian Toi Cruz of Puerto Rico. A former collegiate champion in the the U.S., he is good. But the Indian had a hunger that would not be satiated by food.
Cruz puts up a challenge early on and even led 3-2 but Aman was relentless like a pitbull. He keeps handfighting, snapping Cruz’s neck down and sapping his energy. As the fight wore on, the Indian’s pace took its toll. A close fight at 6-5 became a blowout as Aman racked up takedown after takedown to win 13-5.
Aman thus joins an elite list of men’s Olympic wrestling medallists including two time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, 2012 bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, Tokyo silver medallist Ravi Dahiya and bronze medallist Bajrang Punia.
All of them have emerged from an akhara that is to Indian wrestling what La Massia is to Spanish football.
No easy days
There are no easy days at Chhatrasal Akhara in New Delhi. It is an all male boot camp. The boys live cramped five or more to a room. In the winter you shiver. In the summer you sweat. The place smells constantly of sweat.
There’s no place for weakness or softness here. If you think you are special, you will be quickly cut to size. There’s always someone as hungry as you. Willing to do more than you. You do what you have to do or you go home.
But Chhatrasal isn’t just an academy for Aman. It’s also home. When he was 11 he was brought there by his uncle. Although he had wrestled in his village Birohar in Haryana, that wasn’t the only purpose he was brought there. He had nowhere else to go.
Aman’s past is indeed painful. When he was 10, his mother died by suicide. His grief striken father died the same way a year later. At Chhatrasal if not a wrestler he could at least get three meals a day and help out some of the more established wrestlers.
Since he arrived at Chhatrasal, Aman’s life revolved around training and competition. “He has almost no distractions. He has singular minded focus on training,” says Praveen Kumar, one of the coaches at Chhatrasal.
“Chhatrasal Stadium is my home. The wrestlers here are my family. If someone comes and asks me to go somewhere for Diwali, I don’t agree. I make it clear I’m not leaving Chhatrasal. Now people also know that this is my mentality. I don’t like roaming around or going around Delhi either,” says Aman.
Aman slowly made a name for himself. He made his way through the Nationals winning gold in 2022. He even started making a mark at the international level — becoming India’s first U-23 World Champion in 2022 and then winning an Asian Championship gold in 2023.
His exploits earned him the only real concession Chhatrasal provides it’s best athletes — a prefabricated room which he only had to share with two others. On its wall Aman put up a handpainted poster of the Olympic rings. Below it — in English — he wrote ‘If it was easy everyone would do it’.
But while he dreamt of the Olympics, he had to get through his biggest challenge yet. Fellow Chhattrasal trainee Ravi Dahiya had an Olympic silver medal. After two losses, Aman finally beat his senior rival at the selection trials.
He missed out on a quota at the Asian qualifers but started preparing right after for the World Olympic qualifers and won the quota.
Placed in a tough group in Paris, he once again did what he had to do both on the mat and outside. By the time he was done with the competition he had as a memento a raw cut on the bridge of his nose to go with the bronze medal around his neck. The cut will heal, while the medal he said will not satisfy him.
Life will not change that much. Aman said he’ll go back to the same room he shares with two other athletes. He’ll continue to train as he’s always done. The only change is his dream. “I’m going to win a gold medal next time,” he says.
