| Rahul Balasaheb Aware | |
| Nationality: | Indian |
| Birth Date: | 1991 11, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Patoda, Beed, Maharashtra |
| Country: | India |
| Sport: | Freestyle wrestling |
| Event: | 57 kg / 61 kg |
Rahul Balasaheb Aware (born 2 November 1991) is an Indian male freestyle wrestler who competes in the men's freestyle 57 kg category. He won the Gold medal in the 57 kg division at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He was a student of the late Olympian Harishchandra Birajdar. At present, he is being trained by his guru and father in law Kaka Pawar. Currently he is employed in the Maharashtra Police as a deputy superintendent of police. He is fondly called "Nana" (Elderly brother) by his friends and family.
He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2020 for his contribution to wrestling.
2008 Youth Commonwealth Pune India - Rahul Won the Gold Medal
2009 Junior Asian Wrestling Championship Won the Gold Medal
2009 Junior World Wrestling Championship Silver Medal
2011 Commonwealth Wrestling championship Gold medal
2011 Asian wrestling championship won Bronze medal
2017 Commonwealth wrestling championship Silver medal
2018 21st Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 57 kg freestyle
2019 world ranking series wrestling tournament won Bronze medal
2019 Yasar Dogu World ranking series won Gold medal
2019 Asian wrestling championship won Bronze medal
2019 World wrestling championship won Bronze medal
2020 Asian Wrestling Championship Bronze medal in the 61 kg freestyle
7 Time Gold medalist in National Championships
At the tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Rahul won the bronze medal in the men's freestyle 55 kg category.
In the first round, Rahul faced Rasul Kaliev of Kazakhstan and beat him 3:1. In the next round, he lost 1:3 to Yang Kyong-il of North Korea. In the repechage round, his first opponent was Nasibulla Kurbanov of Uzbekistan and Rahul beat him 3:1. He was able to contest for the bronze medal against Firas Al Ali Rifaee from Syria and won 5:0.[1]
At the tournament in Melbourne, Rahul won the gold medal in the men's freestyle 55 kg category, beating Gilbert Musonza of Canada and Craig McKenna of Scotland.
Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced earlier in April 2015, that 45 athletes will be provided financial support under the 'Target Olympic Podium' programme devised by the Indian Government. The Minister said recent performance, consistency in performance, performance vis-a-vis international standards were among the criteria followed while selecting the athletes.
Rahul, along with fellow wrestlers Sushil Kumar (men's freestyle 74 kg), Yogeshwar Dutt (men's freestyle 66 kg), Amit Kumar (men's freestyle 57 kg) get Rs. 7.5 million each, while Bajrang (men's freestyle 66 kg), Babita Kumari (women's 53 kg) and Vinesh Phogat (women's 48 kg) will be awarded RS. 4.5 million each.[2]
Rahul won a gold medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast. In a gripping final bout against Canada's Steven Takahashi, Aware won 15-7 despite struggling with injury in the latter half. This was the first gold for Aware in CWG.[3]