Wrestler Aman Sehrawat avenges loss to Olympic medall Ravi Dahiya in CWG qualifier, books spot in Asian qualifier | Sport-others News

Wrestler Aman Sehrawat did one thing as a routine since losing the 2022 Commonwealth Games trials to Olympic silver medall Ravi Dahiya. He watched the video of the bout in which he was soundly thrashed. Again and again, everyday, he says. The 10-0 result had rankled 20-year-old Aman, six years Dahiya’s junior.
“It was not easy, not a single day has passed since the Commonwealth Games till this morning when I did not watch that video. It was not easy to beat him today. There was pressure but it feels good to have my first win over him,” Sehrawat said.
On Sunday, Sehrawat’s 8-4 lead became 13-9 before Dahiya closed the gap to 14-11 and then 14-13. Sehrawat said he started to defend like his life depended on it when Dahiya launched his comeback. “Today, maybe after injury he wasn’t fully back in shape,” he added.
The takeaway for Sehrawat from watching the Commonwealth Games trial video on loop was how he was overawed because he was fighting an Olympic medall.
“Looking back, while watching the video, I felt that I was in awe of an Olympic medal. I went the reputation of the wrestler. I did not fight the way I should have. I let him (Dahiya) get to me,” he said.
He does not want to comment if Sunday’s win is the changing of the guard in the 57kg category, but is confident that he can fill the big shoes. Dahiya lost to Sehrawat and Udit at the trials.
Both Dahiya and Sehrawat are from the famed Chhatrasal akhara. They trained in the same hall ahead of the national trials but on different mats and with different sparring partners. “I do keep a close eye on his technique and try to learn from him.”
Sehrawat said his focus would now shift to the Asian Olympic Qualifiers.
“I have to study the best wrestlers from Asia. I feel that I can win an Olympic gold but first I need to book my place in the Indian team,” he said.
In his first bout of the day against Udit, Sehrawat conceded four points early before winning 12-4. He faced the same opponent in the final and used the leg lace to outclass Udit 10-0 in less than a minute.
“After my first bout, the coaches pointed out that I was very sluggish at the start. They said why give an opportunity to someone else to represent India at the Olympics trials. I decided I would go all out in the final and it worked out well for me.”