Paris Olympic medallist Aman disqualified from World Ch'ship for being overweight
New Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI): 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.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
