Aman Sehrawat targets historic Olympic wrestling gold at Los Angeles 2028

Asian Games gold medallist Aman Sherawat believes he can actually pull of something that no other Indian wrestler has ever achieved -- winning a wrestling gold in the Olympics at Los Angeles in 2028.

"I am not thinking about just a medal anymore. My hope is only on gold. I believe that I will win gold for my country in LA Olympics. My bout in the Asian Games final was against the world champion. I defeated him. Now I have full hope that I can do it (get a gold in Olympics)," Aman told PTI in an exclusive interview here on Friday.

"I am getting so much love and blessings from the people of the country. So, I will definitely try my best to bring the gold. Everyone is telling me that in the Asian Games, we knew it was yours. But now we expect you to bring gold in the Olympics. We have full hope from you. That's why you can do it," he said.

Aman pointed out that it was difficult to win a medal in a highly competitive 57kg weight category and to maintain that weight for a long time.

"In this weight, it is not a big deal to come first. It is a big deal to stay in that weight. If you are overweight, you can stay there for many years. But here, there is so much competition," he noted

The 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medallist felt that it was now realistically possible for him to dream for a gold in the LA Olympics.

India has won a silver and four bronze medals in men's category and a bronze in women's wrestling in Olympics' history and gold still remains elusive, which Aman is now focussing on.

Aman has won the only gold medal in wrestling in the-recently concluded Asian Games for India.

"I am very happy to achieve this. I know I am among the best in 57kg category. Now my immediate target will be the World Wrestling Championship. Last time I missed due to a marginal overweight. I have learnt from that. This time I will maintain my weight and win a medal. But the ultimate target is the Los Angeles Olympics. Nothing less than gold will be satisfying," Aman remarked.

The 23-year-old always reminds himself about how he should maintain his weight after he was disqualified at the World Championship last year for turning up overweight.

"I don't find my mistake in that. Sometimes there is a problem in the body. So, I gave my 100 percent there. It's not that I didn't try. I tried my best. But then I said that it won't happen now. We will see in the next tournament. Yes, so now we have brought it in Asian Games. There was no problem in weight."

Talking about his association with foreign coaches before the Asian Games, he said the three months training paid off and he would like to train further under foreign coaches to fine-tune his techniques ahead the Los Angeles Olympics.

"Absolutely, I had a foreign coach before the Asian Games. The coach was from Belarus. I trained with him for 3 months. So, you must have seen a very good result. So, it was very good. They work on small technical aspects," he signed off.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Bridge Desk. It is published from a syndicated feed)