New Delhi: Aman Sehrawat, the 21-year-old who has proved to be a hero for Indian wrestling by winning the bronze medal in the 57 kg freestyle category in Paris 2024, is the fifth student of the famed ‘Chhatrasal akhara’ from the national capital that has won an Olympic medal.
Following Aman’s historic victory, Asian Games gold medallist and legendary coach behind the success of this wrestling temple, Mahabali Satpal spoke to IANS to express his joy and thoughts on his students’ success.
“All four of his bouts were great, this was a very important medal for wrestling and India. This is my fifth student’s medal and I feel young once again. He is so nice and hardworking that I sometimes have to stop him from overexerting himself,” Mahabali Satpal told IANS.
Sehrawat defeated Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz 13-5 in what can only be described as a dominant victory for the Indian wrestler. Despite being 1-3 down in the opening minutes, Sehrawat kept great composure and did not falter at the biggest sporting event in the world. He quickly regained a 6-3 advantage at the end of the first round and went on to win 13-5.
This was the sixth Olympic medal to come from the ‘Chhatrasal akhara’ with Sushil Kumar having won the honour twice and Aman Sehrawat, Ravi Dahiya, Bajrang Punia and Yogeshwar Dutt all having won one medal each.
“Kamaal kardiya ladhke ne (The boy has done wonders). It was a superb performance by him. His performance can be attributed to his training, he was great in all aspects of the bout be it attack or defence,” added the coach.
Sehrawat is the youngest Indian to win an individual medal in the Olympics at 21 years 0 months and 24 days. Shuttler PV Sindhu won an Olympic medal at 21 years 4 months in Rio 2016.
The coach further went on to elaborate on how the celebrations have begun at the Akhara and that they plan on giving him a grand welcome when he returns home.
“We are all fully celebrating this win, just wait and watch the atmosphere at the airport once he returns. The ‘dhols’ are being sounded and sweets are being distributed. We organised a Hawan (Prayer) before he left and have been praying every day since he’s been gone,” Satpal concluded.
Satpal won a gold medal in the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi and a bronze in the 1984 Asiad in Tehran, Iran.
–IANS
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