Wrestling on Mat at Akhara in Kolhapur

Kushti Match at Dangal

By Deepak Ansuia Prasad

This clip is from the Rahul Gandhi World Cup Dangal, organised by bhai satish pahlwan of village kotla. Both wrestlers try their best to pin each other while the spectators are shouting for their respective players. Both wrestlers are equally trained, equally fit, yet the one who has courage, and is not afraid of defeat, but dares to take his chances and has stamina to fight till the end wins. 

Tribute to the Late Hind Kesari Maruti Mane

Contributed by Dattatraj Jadhav

KUSHTI IN CANADA

Noted Wrestler Maruti Mane Dead

Times of India

SANGLI: Renowned wrestler and former Rajya Sabha MP, Hind Kesari Maruti Mane, died after a prolonged illness at a Miraj hospital on Tuesday. He was 72.

Mane was admitted to hospital after his platelet count dropped. He was not responding to treatment and even blood transfusion did not help. His immunity was low as his white blood cell count had also dropped. He breathed his last at 10.50 am.

Mane had a glorious run as a wrestler between 1962 and 1972 and did exceedingly well for the country in major championships.

In the 1970 Commonwealth Games, he bagged silver in the unlimited freestyle event.

In the 1962 Asian Games, he won gold in the 97 kg freestyle and the silver in the 97 kg Greco-Roman events.

Mane was crowned Hind Kesari in 1964 after defeating Rajasthan wrestler Mahiruddin.

He was at one time listed among the best wrestlers in the world. He was also presented with the prestigious Dhyan Chand award by the Union government.

In his wrestling days, Mane used to work out for almost 10 to 12 hours daily. His fitness was said to be the reason for him lasting a good 11 minutes against the then all-conquering Russian wrestler Alexander Medved in 1967.

No wrestler could last for more than a couple of minutes against the Medved, who was crowned world champion four times and won three Olympic golds in Tokyo (1964), Mexico (1968) and Munich (1972).

Mane was born in a poor farming family in a small village called Kavthepiran. He was attracted to wrestling since his childhood with his father having taught him the basic moves.

Though the family did not have money to spare, his father ensured that Mane did not lack for anything, especially a good diet which is essential for a wrestler. He devoted his life to wrestling and encouraged many youths to take up the sport.

A close friend of former state chief minister Vasantdada Patil, Mane also worked in the co-operation movement at Patil's request.

He was chairman of the Sangli district central co-operative bank for five years and was also on the board of directors of the Vasantdada co-operative sugar factory.

Mane was made a Rajya Sabha MP during the tenure of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi but confessed that though he had mastered all manoeuvres in wrestling, he could not master political tactics.

Mane's body was kept at his residence on Sangli-Miraj road to enable people to pay their tributes. The body was later taken to Kavthepiran where the last rites were performed in the evening. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

KUSHTI MATCH: Vikram Pahlwan vs. Gaus Pahlwan

By Deepak Ansuia Prasad

This is a great and amazing video and it is about the title fight to lift Rahul Gandhi Gold Cup. The fight was between Vikram Pahlwan (Guru Jasram Akhada) and Gaus Pahlwan of Haryana (Guru Dhankad Akhada). Vikram pahlwan is a renowned wrestler in Delhi and has lifted many kushti titles in or around India. Gaus Pahlwan is a well-known wrestler of Haryana who is famous for his quick moves. In this rare video you can view the fantastic finish where Vikram Pahlwan pins Wrestler Gaus.

Wrestler Jakker Hussain Wins Sirla Bhaga Kesari Dangal

The Northlines

JAMMU, July 26: Wrestler, Jakker Hussain of Jammu lifted the Sirla Bhaga Kesari dangal beating Soni of Samba in the main bout played at Government High School Sirla Bhaga in district Reasi. Dangal was organised by Sirla Dangal Committee in association with J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association.
Jakker was presented a cash prize of Rs 3,000 by chief guest, Shiv Kumar Sharma, president J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association. Runners-up, Soni got Rs 1500 as cash prize money. Advocate Pawan Dev Singh presided over the function while SDPO Reasi, Abdul Rashid and SHO Reasi, Virender Gupta were guests of honour.
In all, 27 bouts played in the day-long dangal. The second main bout played between Mohd. Akram of Chouadi in Jammu and Kulbir Singh of Kot Bhawal in Jammu ended in a tame draw after 26 minutes of contest. Both these wrestlers were given away Rs 2000 each as cash prize.
Third main bout went to Swarn Singh of Kot Bhawal in Jammu, who beat Yasheen. Swarn received a cash prize of Rs 1,500 while Yasheen got Rs 1,000. In the fourth bout wrestler Bobari of Shiv Mandir Akhara Jammu trounced Prem Verma of Jhiri.
Members of organizing committee and those technical officials who helped in successful conduct of dangal included Bharat Singh, Jamit Singh, Munshi Ram, Nasib Singh, Gulair Singh, Master Ram Krishan (Retd.), Advocate Pawan Dev Singh, Mohd. Latif, Mohd. Fareed and Tony Shah.
Other Results: Amir Khan of Nargada Jammu bt Maltaz Ahmed of Sirla, Jagdev Singh of Narkote bt Bharat Bushan of Akhnoor, Vinod Singh of Akhnoor bt Bir Singh of J&K Police Reasi, Latif of Sirla bt Kartar Singh of Narkot, Billu of Kot Bhawal Jammu bt Nank Singh of Mahore, Laket Ali of Panthal bt Murad Ali of Jammu, Amir Khan of Naragada bt Bharat Bushan of Akhnoor, Bagga of Naragada bt Jagdev Singh of Narkot, Kuldeep Singh of Bamhag bt Parsotam Singh of Tar Talocha, Bobari of Jammu bt Likat Ali of Panthal and Yasheen of Chouadi Jammu bt Bir Singh of Reasi. Bouts between Karnail Singh of Narkote and Nank Singh of Mahore and Suman Singh of Didi Pangal and Ravinder Singh of Mahore ended in draw.

Wrestler Dushyant Recommended for Dhyan Chand Award

UNI

Jammu, Jul 26 : Dushyant Sharma, a wrestler of international repute from the state of Jammu and Kashmir, has been recommended for the prestigious Dhyan Chand award for his outstanding achievements in wrestling at national and international levels.

Sharma, who was extremely delighted over the recommendation of his name for the presitigious award, said the Dhyan Chand award is itself an honour for the sportspersons and it makes one feel proud for his hard work and dedication for sports.

''It is an honour for me that the committee constituted by the Government of India comprised of top brass in sports from India, have recommended my name for the prestigious award,'' the wrestler told UNI.

''I was on sky high, when I came to know about the recommendation of my name for Shri Dhyan Chand award and now, I am eagerly waiting for the day when it will be handed over to me and I will make my nation and state as well proud,'' he added.

Sharma, who is currently serving the Jammu and Kashmir Police Department as Deputy Superintendent of Police, won international bronze medal in 1993 by defeating his counterpart from Iran at world level wrestling championship.

He has also won 10 national level medals in the senior category.

The Tribune, Chandigarh

International wrestler and national gold medalist Rusteme-hind Karam Singh Leel died of heart stroke on Friday. He was a known figure in the Indian-style wrestling and had a number of international-famed wrestling titles to his credit. Karamjit Singh of Leel village near Pakhowal.

KUSHTI MATCH

PAKISTAN KUSHTI: Khadim-e-Aala Punjab Dangal on July 30th

The Nation
LAHORE – The 7th Khadim-e-Aala Punjab Dangal will be held at Narowal on July 30, said convenor CM Mohsin Irshad here on Tuesday.
He said that in the first phase of the revival of the national style wrestling, six venues successfully organised the events and now Narowal will host the first activity of the next phase. He further said that a plan is also being made to organsie the international wrestling event and discussions are underway with Hamza Shahbaz Sharif.

Wrestling Match From Haryana Dangal

Seminar Stress End to `Fixing' in Wrestling

Sports & Allied News

JAMMU, July 17: The first ever seminar on promotion of wrestling held at holy town of Katra laid stress on end to `fixing' in wrestling, especially during the dangal so as to make the indigenous game more competitive and fair.

It was also discussed in length to revive the old Akharas (wrestling fields) in both city and rural areas with special focus on implementation of already laid down rules and norms of the game.

Seminar, which was organised by J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association in association with District Reasi Wrestling Association and Navratra Festival Wrestling Association, had Joint Secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India and international referee, Sohan Singh as main resource person. Another prominent speaker was well known referee of Jammu region, Papu Lakri.

Among others who expressed their views in the day-long seminar were president J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association, Shiv Kumar Sharma and chairman of the Association, Prem Choudhary.

Seminar was also attended by over 30 members of various dangal committees of Jammu Province and other members of the J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association.

Kushti in Kolhapur

Photos and text by Mitchell Kanashkevich

Kolhapur is one city where Kusti seems to be thriving. The sport is as popular as ever in the villages that surround the city. When matches are held, as many as 20,000 spectators attend.

Full Gallery Here

PAKISTAN WRESTLER SALMAN VS. INDIAN WRESTLER RAHUL MANN

Wrestler Kamaljeet of Punjab Wins Mathur Kesari Dangal

The Northlines

JAMMU, July 16: Wrestler Kamaljeet of Doom Cherri in district Ropar of Punjab lifted the 4th Annual Mathur Kesari Dangal title after he defeated Jagroop of Amritsar in the tough main bout that lasted for 35 minutes at Baba Ballo Dev Shathan Mathur.

This vishal Dangal was organized by Baba Ballo Dev Shathan Development Committee Mathur in association with J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association.

Wrestler Kamaljeet received a handsome cash prize of Rs 11,000 in addition to traditional "Silver Gurj and Patta" from Minister for Revenue, Rama Bhalla and Baba Yash Paul Sharma while runner up wrestler was awarded 10,000 as cash prize by Shiv Kumar Sharma and Ashok Kumar Sharma.

In all, 53 bouts were played in the one long dangal wherein local wrestlers hailing form Udhampur, Kathua, Reasi, Jammu, besides wrestler from Punjab, Harayana UP, J&K Police and BSF participated.

The second main bout was won by Sunny of Jullandhar in Punjab beating Bagga of Amritsar while the third main bout between Puran Singh of Garh Shanker in Punjab Rishi Paul of Jullandhar this bout ended in a draw. Both the wresters were awarded a cash prize of Rs 3,000 each. Fourth bout played between Dissha of Doom Cherri and Naseem of UP also ended in a draw.

Members of organizing committee and those technical officials who helped in smooth conduct of dangal were Baba Yash Paul Sharma, Ashok Kumar Sharma, Tilak Raj Sharma, Banarsi Lal Master, Mohan Dutt Lamberdar, Jagdish Dutt, Darshan Chand, Baldev Raj, Ami Chand, Om Parkash, Hari Chand, Puran Chand, Om, Parkash Sharma N.I.S Wrestling Coach, Vijay Singh (Biju), Mulk Raj Sharma, Bansi lal Tidyal, Pappu Lakri, Capt. Retd. Lehar Singh, Yash Paul Patwari, Ranga Pahalwan, Krishan lal Sharma ustad and Sai Ustad.

Others Results: Swardin of Mallerkotla beat Bir Singh of Reasi, Atter Din of Jammu beat Daller Khan of Nargada, Sunny of J&K Police beat Shally of Jullandhar, Swarn Singh of Kot Bhalwal beat Lalli of Garh Shanker, Likat Ali of Panthal beat Bochan Singh of Ghorta, Satish of Jullandhar beat Mohd Akram of Jammu, Anil Kumar (Mohanu) of J&K Police beat Sukha of Garh Shanker, Malkeet of Amritsar beat Murad Ali of Jammu, Anwar of Nargada beat Bagga of kot Bhalwal. Makhan of Kathua beat Yunus of Jammu and Mustaq Ali of Shibba beat Sainf Ali of Panthal. Bouts between Inderjeet of Garh Shanker in Punjab and Kulbir of Kot Bhalwal, Butta of Garh Shanker and Kallu of Shiv Mandir Akhara Jammu and Angrej of Julladher and Bobari of Jammu ended in a draw.

2 Wrestlers To Represent India

Chandigarh, July 16

Two wrestlers of the Gulzar Akhara, Zirakhpur, have been selected to represent India in the forthcoming international events. According to Sports Authority of India (SAI) coach RS Kundu, one of the wrestler Mahpat would compete in the 54 kg in the Asian Cadet Wrestling Championship to be held in Bangkok in July.

Whereas another trainee Hardeep Singh would compete in the 96-kg category of the World Junior Wrestling Championship to be held in Budhapest from July 18 to 24.

Rajinder Kumar (56 kg) and Ashok Kumar (96 kg) would represent India in the “Golden Grand Prix” International Wrestling Tournament, being held at Baku (Azerbaijan) from today onwards. — TNS

Akhara in Badinpur Village in Punjab

Wrestling Seminar at Katra on 16th July

State Times
JAMMU: For the promotion of Indian Style Wrestling in the state, the Jammu and Kashmir Indian Style Wrestling Association is organising a one-day seminar at holy town of Katra in district Reasi on 16th July.
Prominent personalities who are going to attend the seminar as special guests are joint secretary Wrestling Federation of India and General Secretary Punjab Wrestling Association, Sohan Singh and Papu Lakri.
“Different problems confronting the Indian Style wrestling, will be discussed. The experts will share their views and experiences with regard to opening of new Akharas and revival of old playing facilities,” intimated President J and K Indian Style Wrestling Association, Shiv Kumar Sharma.
A meeting held at Hotel Basera in Katra under the Shiv Kumar Sharma decided about the seminar. Others who attended the meeting were  Prem Choudhary, Inderjeet Khajuria, Rakesh Khauria, Prithivi Raj Sharma, Sardar Khan, Swantanter Dev Kotwal, Bansi Lal  Tidyal , Mulk Raj Sharma NIS wrestling coach,  Sanjeev Sharma, Sardari Lal Sharma. Major (Retd) R. S Manhas, Rakesh Wazir, Hem RajThakur,  Pappu Lakri, Raj Kumar Padha, Ramesh Nowada, Naresh Kumar, Rameshwar Sanmotra, Shanker Dass, Rajinder  Kumar Mengi and Rakesh Kumar Dubey.

Kushti in Maharashtra, Indore, MP

Contributed By Dattatray Jadhav

Jammu Wrestler Onkar Clinches Sarna Dangal Title

Newspoint Bureau
Samba, July 12
Wrestler Onkar Singh of Jammu outplayed Billa of Chandigarh in the final to lift the Sarna dangal title at village Sarna, here today.
Over 150 wrestlers drawn from Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh and host Jammu participated in the event. Anil Gupta, Incharge District Development Commissioner, Samba was chief guest on the occasion, who later-on presented a mace and a cash prize to the winner in an impressive concluding function. The function was attended by a large number of former wrestlers and the residents of the village and the surrounding areas.

Sushil Kumar: Wrestling Champion

Wrestlers Training at Guru Chand Roop's Akhara

Kushti Match at Dangal

KUSHTI MATCH

Indian grapplers are strong contenders

Deccan Chronicle

New Delhi, July 6: When Sushil Kumar became only the second Indian grappler ever to win an Olympic medal — at the 2008 Beijing Games — the entire nation stood up to take notice. A couple of years later, the 27-year old is still going strong after bagging a gold in the Asian Wrestling Championships here in May.

The focus now is on the Commonwealth Games at home beginning October 3. “There are 21 medals at stake across different categories in the Commonwealth Games. India are strong contenders for each one of those,” Sushil told this newspaper on Tuesday.

The road to CWG has not been easy for the grapplers. Hours of hard work in extremely trying conditions have been critical to their success.

Born in a family of pehelwans, Sushil battled hard with minimal funds and poor training facilities. “I joined the akhada at the Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi at the age of 14. Those were very different days and we had to jostle for space with dozens of other talented wrestlers for some time on the mat.

“To add to that there were no air-conditioned training venues in India till a few years back. International grapplers like me sometime spent from our own pockets to train abroad,” the 27-year-old wrestler added.

Sushil sees a marked improvement in the scenario since he won the bronze medal in 2008.

“The Olympic medal was a major achievement and made the nation realise that we are capable of competing with the best. The sports ministry has also helped out a lot since then and the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex (where the CWG wrestling event will take place) is looking simply magnificent,” he said.

The Olympic bronze medallist, along with other CWG core group of wrestlers, trains at the Ludlow Castle wrestling venue twice a week and the Sports Authority of India centre near Sonepat the rest of the time.

The Ludlow Castle centre was constructed at the cost of Rs 13 crores. The ground floor has various facilities such as restrooms, gym, cafeteria, physiotherapy centres, doping control centre, changing rooms, sauna bath and a medical centre. The first floor has a training hall, which can accommodate six wrestling mats at a time.

“The training venue for the CWG is world-class with air-conditioned complex. We train there twice a week while the SAI centre is also getting renovated. These are very promising signs for the sport,” Sushil said.

Sushil is currently preparing for the World Championships to be held in Moscow in September. “The worlds should be good preparation ahead of the CWG. India should win at least 2-3 medals from Moscow.

As sports minister M.S. Gill said earlier, all the top-class facilities are being provided to us. It’s up to us now to bring back glory for the nation,” he said.

Wrestling at Akhara in Lahore

Samsung Phones 4u Ad With Wrestlers

Hind Kesari Yogesh Dodake

Contributed by Dattatray Jadhav

Hind Kesri -- SATINDER DAGAR

Kushti in Karnataka

Tomasz Gudzowaty - Nada Kusti from Syrup NYC on Vimeo.

Wrestler Vikram Pahlwan Wins Rahul Gandhi Gold Cup Dangal

By Deepak Ansuia Prasad
Champion wrestler Vikram Pahlwan takes his trophy after winning the Rahul Gandhi Gold Cup Dangal

Fans and supporters of Vikram Pahlwan congratulate him after winning the Rahul Gandhi Gold Cup Dangal

Vikram Pahlwan poses for photos after winning the dangal

 

An earlier match from the Rahul Gandhi Gold Cup Dangal



In other action from the dangal, a wrestler wins his match

A wrestler collects his winnings

Wrestlers greet each other before the bout

Match in progress

Another wrestling match

CWG Wrestling Venue: K.D. Jhadav Stadium

PTI

In a bid to honour the achievement of India’s first individual Olympic medallist, Sports Minister M. S. Gill on Tuesday re-christened the newly-built wrestling venue in the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex here as K. D. Jadhav Stadium.

The newly-constructed wrestling stadium, one of the venues for this year’s Commonwealth Games, was inaugurated in April this year and has a capacity of 6,000. It has been built over an area of 22,350 square metre at a cost of Rs. 120 crore.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Gill said naming the stadium on Mr. Jadhav was a small effort on the government’s side to honour the legendary wrestler’s achievement, which was long due.

“Everyone is aware about Mr. Jadhav’s achievement. Everyone knows that real India’s first individual medal at the Olympics was Mr. Jadhav’s. So, it was always in my mind to honour him,” the Sports Minister said in his address.

“I am really happy to rechristen the stadium in the name of K. D. Jadhav. He didn’t have any help, he didn’t have any support but he had the determination. He worked very hard and managed on his own and gave India its first individual Olympic medal,” he said.

Mr. Gill called on the present lot of Indian wrestlers to derive inspiration from Jadhav and excel at the sport.

“Mr. Jadhav should be an example to the present day wrestlers who have every support, including foreign coaches, exposure trips, from the government and their federation,” he said.

“It is also their responsibility to win medals for the country in international events and I have high expectations from them in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games,” the Sports Minister added.

Beijing Olympics gold medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar too echoed similar sentiments and said Mr. Jadhav’s achievement should come as a motivation for him and his colleagues ahead of the two major sporting events this year.

“We all wrestlers are very happy that the stadium has been named after great K. D. Jadhav. It is a great motivation for us. We are trying our best and working hard for the Commonwealth Games and we are confident of a good performance in the Games,” Mr. Sushil said.

Even though Mr. Jadhav, widely known as ‘Pocket Dynamo’, is regarded as independent India’s first individual Olympic medallist for his bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Games, his achievement went unnoticed till he was alive.

But Mr. Jadhav’s son Ranjit said the honour which was bestowed on his father today, has made up for the negligence.

“I will remember this day whole my life. It is unfortunate that when he was alive he didn’t get any honour but I feel sitting in the heaven he will be very happy today,” said an emotional Ranjit, who was honoured by Gill.

Kushti Dangal

Wrestlers Training in Mysore

Jagdish Bhola - Wrestling Match from Film

Noida Boy Makes It Big At Wrestling Championship

By Sneha Manasa Vedula

Hailing from a small village Sarfabad in Noida, 16-year-old Subodh Yadav made all proud by winning gold in the ongoing National Sub-Junior Wrestling Championship in Nainital.

Subodh will be representing India in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship to be held in Bangkok from 28 July. The teenager won the gold by defeating a wrestler from Punjab in the 96 Kg category.

Earlier in the semi-final he faced wrestlers from the Delhi and Haryana region. Subodh will be given a grand welcome on his return on 29 July, by the Sarfabad Wrestling Association.

“I am very happy with my son’s achievement. Even I used to do wrestling but such opportunities never came my way. I’m glad atleast my son could do so and make the whole village proud” said an emotional Subhe Yadav, father of Subodh.

Subodh’s mentor and manager of the Sarfabad Wrestling Association says, “He is a technically competent wrestler. It is due to his hardwork and sheer determination that he could achieve such recognition. I hope he makes the country proud in the upcoming tournament in Bangkok scheduled next month.”

With more and more encouragement being given to other sports like cricket, footlball etc, we hope that this rising star continues to shine and make the country proud by raking more such titles and popularizing the game.

Rahul Gandhi Gold Cup Dangal

By Deepak Ansuia Prasad
A bout in progress


Wrestlers before a match

A wrestler pins his opponent

Winning wrestler collects his prize

Another bout ends by fall

Winning wrestler