National Wrestling Championships 2025: Aman Sehrawat wins gold despite eyebrow injury
Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat defied an eyebrow injury to claim the men’s freestyle 61kg gold medal in the National wrestling championships at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, Naranpura, in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Aman, who became eligible for the event after his suspension (for jumping the 57kg weight limit in the World championships in Zagreb) was revoked last month, exhibited his supremacy through a series of clinical performances.
Sporting his employer Railways’ colours, Aman, who fought in a heavier category to avoid hassles of cutting his body weight, outclassed Kerala’s Adhit Narayan 12-1 and Madhya Pradesh’s Lalit 10-0. He rallied from 0-2 to beat Rajasthan’s Anuj Kumar 13-2 in the semifinals and trounced Delhi’s Nikhil 10-0 in the final.
Aman picked up an injury on his left eyebrow due to a clash of heads with Lalit in the quarterfinals. Despite bleeding from a swollen wound, he not only fought three bouts, including the final in which he came out with a bandaged head, but also obliged numerous fans by posing for photographs after his victory.
“An injury is part of the sport. It was a good outing,” said Aman.
World under-23 champion Sujeet Kalkal, who beat seasoned rival Vishal Kaliraman 10-0 in the final, sailed to the title and established himself as the best wrestler in 65kg following the Bajrang Punia era.
In a rare high-scoring 57kg semifinal bout that swung from side to side, Atish Todkar edged Akshay Dhere 17-16 but could not sustain his energy to lose the final 0-10 to Ankush.
The results
Freestyle
57kg: Gold: Ankush (Del) bt Atish Todkar (Rly) 10-0; Bronze: Akshay Dhere (Mah) bt Suman Kumar (Bih) ‘by fall,’ Chirag (Har) bt Vishal (UP) 3-2; 61kg: Gold: Aman Sehrawat (Rly) bt Nikhil (Del) 10-0; Bronze: Deepak (SSCB) bt Janardan Yadav (UP) ‘by fall, Anuj Kumar (Raj) bt Lalit (MP) 6-3;’ 65kg: Gold: Sujeet Kalkal (Har) bt Vishal Kaliraman (Rly) 10-0; Bronze: Rohit (SSCB) bt Parikshit (Del) 10-2, Vijay Malik (Chd) bt Ayush Kumar (Del) 9-6; 70kg: Gold: Abhimanyou (Har) bt Ravi Kuntal (UP) 10-0; Bronze: Rohan Narayan (Rly) bt Naveen (SSCB) 8-4, Rohit (MP) bt Rahul (Chd) 3-2; 74kg: Gold: Chandermohan (SSCB) bt Deepak (Har) 10-0; Bronze: Vikash Yadav (UP) bt Deepanshu (Chd) 9-8, Adarsh Patil (Mah) bt Vishal Kumar (Pun) ‘by fall;’ 79kg: Gold: Amit (SSCB) bt Mohit (Del) 11-0; Bronze: Sachin Mor (Rly) bt Rohit Prajapati (MP) 10-0, Rahul (Raj) bt Vikas (Mah) 5-5 (by criteria); 86kg: Gold: Mukul Dahiya (SSCB) bt Sachin (Har) 10-0; Bronze: Sandeep Singh (Pun) bt Avinash (Raj) 10-0, Aman Singh (Guj) bt Anand V.S. (Ker) ‘by fall’; 92kg: Gold: Jonty (Rly) bt Sachin (Har) 8-7; Bronze: Sahil Jaglan (SSCB) bt Gurdeshwar Singh (Pun) 7-4, Deepak (Raj) bt Mohammed Hafiz (JK) 5-1; 97kg: Gold: Vicky (Rly) bt Deepak (Del) by injury; Bronze: Sahil (Pun) bt Avtar Singh (Utk) 10-0, Vetal Shelke (Mah) bt Sanjay Kumar (JK) 13-0; 125kg: Gold: Dinesh (SSCB) bt Ronak (Del) 5-0; Bronze: Mahendra (Rly) bt Mohit (Har) 5-0, Raju (Chd) bt Umang (Utk) 10-0.
Team championship
Champion: Railways, Runner-up: Services.
Published on Dec 13, 2025