Vinesh re-run: 'Overweight' Aman disqualified from World Championship

New Delhi: Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat was on Sunday disqualified from the World Championship in Zagreb after being found overweight, dealing a massive blow to Indian contingent at the prestigious tournament.

In what turned to be an embarrassing development, Aman, who won a bronze at Paris Olympics last year, was found overweight by 1.7kg during the weigh-in ahead of the competition in the men's freestyle 57kg.

"It's unfortunate and surprising that Aman could not maintain his weight. He was overweight by 1700 grams when he stood in the weight scale. This is not acceptable, actually. How did he get so much extra weight is beyond us," a source within the Indian contingent told PTI from Zagreb.

According to UWW regulations published in 2023, a two-kg weight tolerance is allowed for World Cup, UWW Ranking Series Tournaments and for the international tournaments.

However, tournaments like World Championships and Olympics do not have such provision.

What is surprising that Aman had reached Zagreb, Croatia, on August 25 for an acclimatisation and training camp along with other Indian wrestlers and had around 20 days to maintain and make weight.

The 22-year-old Aman, who trains at the famed Chhattrasal stadium, was one of the strong medal contenders among Indians.

This is second disqualification incident involving an Indian at the World Championships in less than a month as Neha Sangwan (women's 59kg) was ousted from the U20 Worlds in Samokov, Bulgaria in August after weighing 600gms more than the permissible limit.

Neha was also a part of India's senior World Championship squad in Zagreb but the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had not only dropped her from the team but also suspended her for two years due to her "consistent weight management issues".

This is, though, first overweight incident involving a star Indian player after Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics ahead of the women's 50kg final. She was found overweight by 100g hours before her gold medal bout.

"You know, the government has spent at least 7-8 lakh on each wrestler selected for the World Championship in Zagreb. The stay expense was at least Euro 140 during the two-week training camp and it's Euro 200 during the tournament.

"It is the wrestler's responsibility to maintain weight. There has to be some explanation. Almost 2kg more than the permissible weight is unbelievable," said a coach with the Indian contingent.

It remains to be if seem if WFI hands some punishment to Aman like it did to Neha for a similar transgression or let him off due to his star status.

Aman has competed only in one international tournament since winning bronze in Paris Games. He secured a bronze at Ulaanbaatar Open in June this year, losing to Mexico's Roman Bravo-Young in the semifinals.

He beat Turkiye's Bekir Keser in the bronze play-off.