Aman Sehrawat brings Indian wrestling back into the headlines for the right reasons with Paris 2024 bronze

Aman Sehrawat won India's first wrestling medal at Paris Olympics (AP)

Wrestling in an ancient sport. In pre-historic India, it was known as ‘malla yuddhya’. In modern times, India was reasonably good at it. The country’s first individual Olympic medal came in this discipline, from KD Jadhav in 1952. Starting from 2008, this was the only sport which got us at least a medal in every edition of the Olympics. There were six podium-finishes since. That was under threat. There were dark clouds that this sequence was going to break. The unrest against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) by some of the foremost names of Indian wrestling, Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from Paris 2024 and allied disturbances — chances were high that the streak was going to end. Then came Aman Sehrawat. A fighter to the core with an unassuming face, the 21-year-old gave India a sixth medal in Paris 2024 by securing bronze in the men’s 57kg freestyle division.

Time will tell how significant this podium finish was. If we go by the standings, it will look ordinary, considering that Sushil Kumar and Ravi Dahiya had secured silver in the past. This was just a bronze, the lowest place on the podium. This is true. What this doesn’t tell, however, is the kind of adversities under which this was secured. It was a race against adversities. It hauled an about-to-sink Indian wrestling revolution back on track.

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Against Puerto Rico’s Darian Toi Cruz in the bronze-medal shootout, Aman was always in the ascendancy. He conceded the first point of the bout in the opening minute, but wasted no time in launching an assault to take a 2-1 lead. His rival went ahead 3-2 and yet, Aman was back again on top and closed the first round at 4-3.

The second round was a cruise. One must not say this, because an Olympic wrestling bout is no honeymoon. However, that is how Aman made it look in the second round. The score became 6-5, then 8-5, 12-5 and 13-5 — there was only one winner. And that was Aman, the fighter from Haryana, who emerged a convincing victor. This is the category that Ravi had won silver in at Tokyo in 2021.

Aman’s achievement will perhaps pale into insignificance compared to what Indians have achieved in the last few editions of the Olympics. But, his contribution in keeping the Indian wrestling flag flying will be remembered. A game about to be doomed because of developments on and off the mat received a fresh lease of life because of him. Aman, in you, lives Indian wrestling.

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