Aman Baroniya opens up on his struggles ahead of Asian Games debut in wrestling, says ‘I was young and had…’

Aman is the youngest wrestler in India’s Greco-Roman team for the Asian Games. His road to the tournament has been a difficult one.

After just playing at the U-17 World Championship in August 2023, he tore his right knee badly and was in for ACL surgery within a week. He then spent the next few years dealing with setbacks and working hard to regain his fitness and return to competition.

Aman opens up on three surgeries and tough road to Asian Games

“Training is going well right now. This is my first Asian Games, so I am feeling very excited about it. This is a big moment for me. But the last few years have not been easy for me. I have had three surgeries. It was a very hard phase, both mentally and physically. But now my body is feeling good, I am training well, and I just want to give my best at the Games,” Aman said.

After his first surgery, Aman admitted that both his doctor and he pushed him to recover faster. However, his knee developed an infection. Due to this, he needs to go for a second surgery in October 2023.

“I was young, and I had that jawani ka josh (youthful exuberance), I thought I would get back on the mat quickly and return straight to my peak. That was a mistake, mine and the doctor’s both. Because of that, I got a knee infection, and I needed another surgery to fix it,” he said.

How Aman’s father, coach and roommate plays a crucial role in his life

After the injury setback, he continued his rehabilitation into 2024 and returned to training in April of the same year. Sadly, he suffered another ACL injury in the same knee, within a week, which followed him to the third surgery. These injury setbacks made him stay away from the mat for a year. His parents also asked him to focus on his studies after facing injury struggles. But, during that period, Aman realized that he was close to walking away from the sport altogether. At that time period, his coach and roommate played a crucial role for him as they kept pushing him to get back on the mat.

“There was a time when I felt like quitting, because of back to back injuries. Even my parents told me, ab padhai pe dhyan do (focus on your studies now), because they were worried about seeing me get hurt so many times. But my coach and my roommate did not let me think like that. They kept telling me, you will come back, just give it time. They pushed me every single day to get back on the mat. And when I did come back, I won a gold medal in the senior category. That medal meant a lot to me, it showed me that all the hard work was worth it.”

In Aman’s life, wrestling played a crucial role as his father was also a wrestler. But never got the support to take the sport further. His father played an important role in his life as he was the one to put his son in the match before sending him off to train at an academy.

“My father was also a wrestler, but he could not go far in the sport because he did not get the support at that time, there was no one to guide him properly. He always had this dream in his heart, and I think he saw that same dream for me. He is the one who got me into wrestling, he is the reason I am here today. In the beginning, he used to train me himself, on the ground near our village. Then when he saw I was serious about it, he sent me to an academy so that I could train more professionally.”