Aman Sehrawat wins the title of Gold | At New Year Beginning
The 20-year-old wrestler wins gold in the 57kg class in the UWW Ranking Series after overcoming early nerves.
The greatest prodigy in Indian wrestling, Aman Sehrawat, endured cruel taunts at his akhara, or dheela, for months on end.
His laid-back manner was unrelated to it. Instead, it was how Sehrawat’s coaches described his wrestling technique during the first few exchanges of a match—sometimes caustically, sometimes cynically, but always out of frustration. On Wednesday, the jab might have rang in his ears.
Sehrawat was a little slow to start in the initial round of the day, but he went on to win the 57kg title at the UWW Ranking Series in Zagreb, defeating China’s Wanhao Zou 10-0 in the gold medal battle.
In the first ten seconds of the Ranking Series competition in Zagreb, the 20-year-old gave up a four-point takedown to M Karavus of Turkey in his first fight of the year.
Since it was the only occasion in the tournament where Sehrawat conceded points, it appeared the move woke him up. Swift and forceful, Sehrawat easily defeated all of his opponents, including Karavus, who the Indian defeated with ten consecutive points, to start the Olympic year as the winner.
This was extremely welcome news for Indian wrestling, which has spent the last year reeling from player protests, accusations of sexual harassment against former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, an international suspension, and internal turmoil.
Better still for Sehrawat’s coach, who was ecstatic that the wrestler’s gradual starts during the off-season had paid off.
“We haven’t had many tournaments in the past few months, but we haven’t taken a day off from work.” “The entire duration was dedicated to enhancing his starts,” stated Lalit Kumar, his coach, who received the Dronacharya Award on Tuesday. “It took some time to instill in him the belief that he cannot be dheela on the mat for even a brief moment if he hopes to compete in the Olympics and win a medal.”
Dahiya vs. Sehrawat for an Olympic berth
Standing on a podium in the Olympics is more than just empty talk. Sehrawat, from Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi, is favored by many to follow in the Olympic medal-winning footsteps of the academy’s former students, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Bajrang Punia, and Ravi Dahiya.
For the junior world champion and senior Asian champion in the 57kg weight class, who is still just in his second year of senior wrestling, the Olympics in Paris may have arrived a bit too soon. That hasn’t prevented him, though, from getting ready for what may be a battle at the selection trials next month with his idol and silver medallist from the Tokyo Olympics, Dahiya.
The first opportunity to secure an Olympic berth will be granted to the trial winner at a qualifying event in April. And that might not even be sufficient to board the flight to Paris. The winner of the final trials for the Olympics in Paris is expected to compete for Olympic gold on May 31 and June 1.
The top two lightweight wrestlers in the nation may compete in multiple matches to determine who will be the only representative in the 57kg class.
Until recently, Dahiya would have been the obvious option due to his international pedigree. However, Sehrawat’s steady ascent and the Tokyo silver medallist’s struggle with ailments have made the competition more interesting. Another dimension to it is that Sehrawat won the Asian Games trials without much effort, while Dahiya fell to an unimpressive wrestler from Maharashtra.
Perhaps in a symbolic sense, Dahiya has decided to compete in his first international event in France after a year away. Sehrawat and his instructors will be closely monitoring him the following week.
“We have always had an abundance problem at Chhatrasal, so it’s not unusual to have multiple world-class wrestlers in a weight class,” Lalit explains. “They’ll both be ready. Aman trains with me as he has done since he was a young child, and Ravi has his team.
A Stutter in Dagestan
Sehrawat’s rapid leg work and strong upper body have long been praised at Chhatrasal. Lalit has been working on quickening his response time at the beginning of the fight for the past few months.
Lalit claims that Sehrawat’s game had a serious flaw that was fully exposed during the World Championship the previous year. That’s when I gave him a hard time. As it was his first year on the senior circuit, everything was unfamiliar to him, but we already understood that if Aman was going to win big events, he needed to get off to a stronger start. He is not dheela, Lalit declared.
He was therefore placed with faster partners during the off-season training to gauge his reaction time. He added quick sprints to his program and changed his nutrition to become faster.
Lalit acknowledges that Sehrawat is still a work in progress and that the wrestler will be visiting Dagestan, one of the major wrestling hotspots in the world, in order to continue developing. This is the first time Sehrawat will travel for training outside of India, specifically outside of Chhatrasal Stadium.
Since wrestlers from all over the world arrive there, he will spar with fresh partners. He’ll be exposed to fresh looks and methods, says Lalit. “It will only be a brief assignment, intended to give his preparations for the selection trials next month a final polish.”
