India’s Aman Sehrawat. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
India faced a major embarrassment on Sunday (September 14, 2025) as Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat could not cut his weight to fit into the men’s 57kg weight class and forfeited his match at the World wrestling championships in Zagreb.
As Aman could not fight in his qualification round match, his opponent Vladimir Egorov of North Macedonia progressed to the pre-quarterfinals.
It was a shocking development for the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) as the third-seeded Aman was a strong medal contender at the elite event. It is reliably learnt that overnight he weighed 1.7kg more than the required weight.
“Aman pulled out, as he could not reduce his weight enough in the morning. He is an experienced wrestler and was a witness to a similar embarrassment (due to Vinesh Phogat’s overweight issue, which resulted in India losing out on a medal) at the Paris Olympics. It seems he has not learnt anything from that episode,” WFI president Sanjay Singh told The Hindu.
The WFI, which recently suspended up-and-coming wrestler Neha Sangwan for two years for being overweight in an international event, will take action against Aman.
“Both the wrestler (Aman) and the support staff, who are assisting him, are responsible for this. Strict action will be taken against both. They have wasted a lot of Government money, which was spent for the (15-day) preparatory camp abroad,” said Singh.
Published – September 14, 2025 06:55 pm IST
