“This bronze medal is as good as a gold to me” - Aman Sehrawat’s sister Jyoti recounts his journey
As Aman Sehrawat stood on the podium at the Paris Olympics, half a world away, a remote village in the Jhajjar district of Haryana erupted in raucous celebration.
In this deepest ‘Jat land’, where wrestling is an intimate component of the local culture and visits to the village ‘akhada’ an unmissable part of the daily routine for rural youth, the diminutive, muscular 21-year-old, has already become a part of local folklore.
Birohar - the ancestral village of Aman Sehrawat – has not stopped celebrating since Friday night, when their local prodigy pulled off the winning moves during the play-off for the bronze medal in the men’s 57-kilogram category.
The entire village is busy preparing to welcome their hero.
“This bronze medal is as good as a gold medal for me, it’s the perfect Rakshabandhan gift I could have asked from my brother. There is no finer Rakhi present than this. The bronze medal will inspire him to work harder for his ultimate goal of winning an Olympic gold medal in 2028. We are really proud of him,” Aman’s sister Jyoti told Sportskeeda.
“The entire village is celebrating along with our family. He is the pride of not just our village but for the entire country. All of us stand with him.”
Aman dominates at Paris Olympics
At the Paris Olympics on Friday, Aman overpowered a more experienced opponent in the form of 29-year-old Darian Cruz of Puerto Rico in the play-off for the bronze medal. He thus rewrote the history books by becoming the youngest Indian to clinch a medal at the ‘greatest show on earth’.
He also continued the trend of Indian male wrestlers winning medals in every Olympic Games since Sushil Kumar's bronze at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 – the fifth consecutive time that Indian wrestlers have found themselves on the podium. Aman’s medal also boosted the Indian tally to six at the Paris Olympics.
Childhood struggles
However, this success did not come easy. The path to the podium at the Paris Games was twisted and tortuous.
Since childhood, Aman has seen his life take more twists and turns than a Bollywood script. He had lost both his parents by the age of 11 and was raised by his uncle, aunt and grandfather.
His destiny eventually led Aman to the wrestling mat when his uncle took him to the fabled Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi. The then 12-year-old adapted quickly to life in his new home.
Looking to the future
Under the guidance of veteran coach Satpal Singh and his iconic ‘chela’ – double Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar – the shy, skinny child started transforming into a formidable ‘pehlwan’.
“He showed promise right from the start. There seemed to be a spark, a hunger to win which pushed him to work harder. We knew that he will become a top wrestler, but did not even imagine in our wildest dreams that he will achieve something so great,” Aman’s uncle Sudhir Sehrawat said.
“Although he just missed the gold medal, he still won the bronze medal for the country. Aman has faced a lot of challenges during his life. His bronze medal at the Olympics is his tribute to his parents,“ he added.
“All we can do is hope and pray that he wins the gold medal at the next Olympics."