Sunday was a forgettable day for Indian grapplers at the World Wrestling Championships 2025 in Zagreb, as Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat was disqualified from the 57kg freestyle event after he failed to make weight.
Mukul Dahiya also faltered in his bronze medal match in the men’s 86kg division after making it through the repechage rounds, while the other three Indian wrestlers in action on the day, including Olympian Deepak Punia, bowed out.
Aman Sehrawat, a Paris 2024 bronze medallist, was found overweight by 1.7kg at the weigh-in for the men’s freestyle 57kg.
While a two-kg weight tolerance is allowed for World Cups, the UWW Ranking Series tournaments and other international competitions, no such provisions exist for the World Championships and Olympics.
The 22-year-old Aman Sehrawat was reportedly unwell and failed to cut down his weight before the weigh-in.
Meanwhile, Mukul Dahiya fell narrowly short of winning India’s first medal at the World Wrestling Championships.
After a loss to America’s Zahid Valencia in the qualification round on Saturday, Mukul Dahiya made it to the bronze medal match after winning two repechage bouts against Latvia’s Ivars Samusonoks and Olympian Fateh Benferdjallah of Algeria.
However, a tussle with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Kamran Ghasempour in his medal match proved a bridge too far for the Indian wrestler, as he lost by technical superiority.
Elsewhere, Amit (79kg) and Vikash Kumar (74kg) bowed out after losing their opening matches on Sunday.
Olympian and 2019 Worlds silver-medallist Deepak Punia (92kg) managed to win his qualifier before going down 4-3 to Osman Nurmagomedov of Azerbaijan, a three-time World Championships medallist.
None of the three qualified for Monday’s repechage rounds.
The opening day of the World Wrestling Championships also saw three Indian wrestlers – Udit (61kg), Rohit (70kg) and Rajat (125kg) – eliminated without making any medal match.
A total of 30 gold medals are on the line across men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman events. India have fielded a full-strength squad with one entry in each weight category.