Trials will disrupt Olympics preparation, says Aman Sehrawat

New Delhi, May 15

Aman Sehrawat, the lone male Indian wrestler to have qualified for the Paris Olympics, finds it annoying that instead of shifting his focus on preparing for the Games, he still has to worry about cutting his weight to prepare for another round of trials. The 20-year-old under-23 world champion saved India the blushes by securing a berth in men’s freestyle 57kg at the recent world qualifiers in Istanbul.

So many times I have cut my weight. How many times do I have to do it? It causes a lot of weakness. I think the work I need to put in for a good preparation will be affected if I am asked to go through the trials again. Aman Sehrawat

“So many times I have cut my weight. It causes a lot of weakness,” said Aman, whose natural body weight is 62kg. “I don’t understand, do I think of now winning trials again or start preparing for Olympics? I think the work I need to put in for a good preparation will be affected if I am asked to go through the trials again. By the time the trials are finished, the Olympics will be almost there, so when do we start preparations? In my opinion, the trials should not be held,” he added.

Aman, who is an Asian Games bronze medallist and Asian Championships title winner, is confident that he will be in the reckoning for a medal at the Games.

“I see myself in the top-3 in the world. Russia and Albania are strong and it will be close with them, the others I can manage,” he said.

Aman had lost to Albania’s Zelimkhan Abakarov in the 2023 World Championships where Serbia’s Steven Andria Micici had emerged champion. Zavur Uguev, the two-time world champion from Russia, is also a strong wrestler. Uguev had defeated Ravi Dahiya in the Tokyo Games gold medal match.

Most probably, Aman will have to beat Ravi in the trials.

Announce trials date: Vinesh

Vinesh Phogat has urged the Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to announce the time, date, venue and format of the trials with only three months left for the Paris Olympics. “Despite being just under three months away from Paris Olympics, the Wrestling Federation of India has yet to announce the officials trials format, including the date, time and venue,” Vinesh posted online.