Losing weight wasn’t an issue, shed 3.5kg to battle in semis, says wrestler Aman Sehrawat

New Delhi: Wrestler Aman Sehrawat credits Ravi Dahiya for mentoring him towards Paris Olympics bronze medal.

Dahiya claimed the silver medal at Tokyo Olympics but was beaten by Sehrawat in 57kg trials to qualify for Paris 2024.

Dahiya and Sehrawat train at the famed Chhatrasal wrestling academy and the Paris 2024 bronze medallist had earlier spoken of his admiration for Dahiya.

“Ravi Dahiya has played a huge role in my journey. We followed his footsteps in training and got inspired by him,” Sehrawat told PTI on Tuesday.

After Vinesh Phogat was disqualified for being overweight at the weigh-in before her 50kg final, a lot of hue and cry happened over weight management of athletes.

Sehrawat said he was not much bothered about weight loss before weigh-in for his semi-final and slimmed down 3.5kg to make the 57kg mark.

“It was not a major issue, we already had plans to cut weight and had some 3.5 kg was increased. So I cut the weight overnight and then I went for the weigh in,” he said.

Sehrawat weighed in 100 grams less the cut-off mark, while Vinesh reportedly weighed more by that exact amount.

The 21-year-old became India’s youngest athlete to win an Olympic medal, which has only motivated him to improve at Los Angeles 2028

“I will try my best to win the gold medal in the next Olympics,” he said, also crediting his bother for his well being after the passing of his parents aged 11.

“My journey was indeed difficult but my brother Sagar took care of me. Not for once did he let me feel the parental void. He took good care of me.”

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