TOI Sports Desk
Working relentlessly overnight, the Aman’s team ensured that he met the weight criteria, thus avoiding a potential disqualification.
The 21-year-old Aman’s semifinal defeat to Japan’s Rei Higuchi happened around 6:30 pm.
Wasting no time, the mission for Sehrawat and his coaches began immediately with a one-and-a-half-hour mat session focused on standing wrestling. Jagmander Singh and Virender Dahiya, senior Indian coaches, led the rigorous weight-cutting regime.
Following the mat session, he endured a one-hour hot-bath session.
At 12:30 am, Aman moved to the gym for a non-stop one-hour treadmill run to induce sweating and weight loss.
A brief 30-minute break was given before engaging in five 5-minute sessions of the sauna bath.
By the end of the sauna sessions, Aman’s weight was still 900 grams above the limit.
He then received a massage and was instructed to do light jogging. This was followed by five 15-minute running sessions.
By 4:30 am, Aman weighed in at 56.9kg, 100 grams below the limit, bringing relief to the coaches and wrestler alike.
In between sessions, Aman consumed lukewarm water mixed with lemon and honey, along with a bit of coffee.
Despite the exhausting routines, Aman chose not to sleep.
“I watched videos of wrestling bouts the whole night,” Sehrawat said.
“We kept checking his weight every hour. We didn’t sleep the whole night, not even during the day,” said coach Dahiya.
“Weight cutting is routine, normal for us but there was tension, a lot of tension due to what happened the other day (with Vinesh). We could not let slip another medal,” said Dahiya.
All the hard work came to a fruition when Aman won the bronze medal, beating Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz on Friday to become India’s youngest ever Olympic medallist.