Blood, sweat & gold: Aman Sehrawat finds hunger for glory again

It was a fight that tested all aspects of his character. His North Korean opponent tried to break his momentum, stalling for time by feigning injury, even making an incredible comeback, but it was Aman who prevailed. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

The signs of Aman Sehrawat’s Saturday battle were etched across his face. His lip was coated with dried blood. Bruises were just starting to darken beneath both eyes. Crimson scratches marked his neck where his opponent tried to grab him.

The 23-year-old hadn’t noticed any of this.

“ Pata bhi nahi kab hua yeh (I don’t when these even happened),” he laughed, his teeth stained red.

He was laughing because he had just won gold, his first at the Asian Games. A few minutes earlier, at Inae Sports Center in Nagoya, he had beaten Han Chong-song, the reigning world champion from North Korea.

It was a fight that tested all aspects of his character. Han tried to break his momentum, stalling for time by feigning injury. The North Korean had come back from 6-1 down and briefly led 7-6. In the end, though, it was Aman who had his hand raised, winning 11-7.

ALSO READ | How a knee injury sent Nitesh Siwach from the akhara to Greco-Roman glory

It wasn’t the first time that Aman had been tested in Nagoya.

Against Yamato Ogawa of Japan, he trailed 8-9 but turned things around to win 20-9. He then came back from 2-6 down to beat Aiaal Belolyubskii of Tajikistan 14-8.

Now he had gold.

Aman’s scars from an intense final bout are visible. He came away with bruises under his eye and on his lips and scratch mark on his neck. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

It was an improvement on the bronze he won in Hangzhou. It also made him the first Indian to win a second medal in the men’s 57kg freestyle category at the Asian Games.

But more importantly, he said, it was a medal that had reignited a fire he feared was starting to fade after he won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Aman’s fight for gold didn’t wait for him to step on to the mat — it began the night before.

He didn’t sleep at all. It wasn’t because he was nervous. He was physically unable to.

Ahead of their competition, wrestlers have to show that they weigh under the limit of the category they are competing in. Most usually cut water weight and restrict their food intake before rehydrating for the start of their competition.

AMAN 🇮🇳 takes the 57kg 🥇 at Asian Games pic.twitter.com/tgXFPX2ROB

— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) October 3, 2026

Aman was a kilo over the limit on the penultimate evening of his competition. The cut wasn’t too hard. At the 2024 Olympics, where he won bronze, he had lost 4.6kg overnight before his medal bout. In Nagoya, he lost a similar amount just through sweat during a hard mat session. That night, he skipped food and drink. With his body parched and his stomach empty, he couldn’t rest.

“When you don’t eat or drink you stay up all night,” he said after his win.

The next day, when he presented his weight, Aman found that he was actually 200 grams under the limit.

“I could have at least had some water to drink,” he quipped later.

But Aman would rather be safe than sorry.

FROM 2023 | Aman, the next wrestling sensation from Chhatrasal Stadium

Ahead of the 2025 World Championships, Aman had considered himself ready to fight for a medal, possibly even gold, like Sushil Kumar — a man he considers his guru — the only Indian to win a senior world wrestling title.

But Aman didn’t even make weight for the competition and was disqualified. It was at this event that the North Korean won gold.

It was perhaps the most painful incident in a season he simply described as an ‘ ajeeb saal’ (strange year). And it came, strangely enough, after perhaps the best year of his career, when he won an Olympic medal.

Aman says his triumph in Nagoya has ignited a fire he feared was starting to fade after his bronze medal finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

After the medal in Paris came distractions. There were felicitations and ceremonies. There was money and five-star hotels. All of which were new to a boy who had lived most of his life in a tiny 50 sq. ft. room at New Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium, the famed wrestling academy where he had been taken after losing both his parents.

After a while he stopped enjoying these new comforts. He eventually returned to that same room, where it was written on a wall: “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

But he still struggled.

“I thought looking at that message on the wall would push me but it didn’t. I was just really demotivated.”

It didn’t help that he was also battling a stomach issue that affected his digestion. He started the season by missing the Indian trials for the Asian Championships.

“At that time I wondered what had happened to me. I had all these plans for what I wanted to do after the Olympics. I wanted to prepare really well for the LA Olympics. I was planning to take part in all these tournaments and then I wasn’t doing any of that.”

He pushed himself and won trials to go to the World Championships that year but eventually ended up not competing.

He was suspended by the federation and asked to explain what had happened. But more than embarrassed, he was hurt.

Having beaten the world champion to clinch gold, Aman has belief once again. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

“I was very upset. I’d beaten this North Korean wrestler before. I was prepared to be a world champion. For a lot of days I couldn’t believe what had happened to me. For many days I was upset,” he said.

The suspension was eventually withdrawn. Aman said he, too, eventually started to regain his motivation. It was just a question of time, he explained.

“I had a lot of my friends who helped me at this time.”

What helped him even more, he said, was the understanding that it wasn’t just enough to win a single Olympic medal.

“It’s not such a big deal to win a medal. To maintain your level and keep winning is what is special. In the smaller weight categories like the 57kg class I don’t think anyone has gone to two Asian Games in a row,” he said.

That pushed him towards the Aichi-Nagoya edition.

After he came through the selection trials, he changed the wallpaper on his phone. It had once shown the Olympic gold medal. He pasted a picture of the Asian Games gold.

Aman Sehrawat changed the wallpaper on his phone from the Olympic gold medal to a photograph of the Asian Games gold medal after winning the selection trials for the Aichi Nagoya Games. | Photo Credit: JONATHAN SELVARAJ

“Every time I looked at that picture I thought I had to win that medal.”

He had to fight for it, though.

There was first the weight cut that made it impossible to sleep. It was hard, but tougher things awaited him after he presented his weight.

“In the morning after I finally ate and drank something I started feeling sleepy but I couldn’t sleep the whole day because I had to fight!”

ALSO READ | Indian kurash player Yash Kumar Chauhan fails dope test

Aman wasn’t the same callow 20-year-old who was making his debut.

In the past year, he had been working on ironing out the creases in his game.

“I used to concede a lot of points because my defence was weak. I would be fighting well and then suddenly I would give away a lot of points in a row.”

This was what happened in 2023. He conceded six early points in the semifinal against Japan’s Toshihiro Hasegawa and eventually lost. This time around, he was prepared.

In the final, it was Aman who had the lead before Han fought back. However, the North Korean wouldn’t be able to keep the momentum going. Two late takedowns sealed the match for the Indian.

Having beaten the world champion, Aman has belief once again.

“There was a time when I didn’t have a lot of motivation. But now that hunger has come once again,” he said.