Tag Archives: #indianatheletes

Has the Olympic Spirit of Indian Athletes Received Its Due?

Tell A Story – a column where riveting South Asian stories are presented like never before through unique video storytelling.

It was a historical haul for India at Tokyo Olympics 2020 with seven medals – 1 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze. Accolades have flooded the Olympians but the question to ponder is whether it arrived at the right time or not. Their strenuous journey is not just limited to an Olympic win, it goes way beyond. A journey of hard work and perseverance, triumphing over every obstacle that crossed their path to reach the podium of the Olympics. 

It’s interesting to note that amongst Indian Olympians, the majority are from tier 2, tier 3, or remote cities — hailing from places that do not even have a proper training playground. Gold Medalist Neeraj Chopra had to travel 15 km from home to access a stadium. Meanwhile, Silver Medalist Mirabai Chanu took lifts in loading rice trucks to reach her training ground 25 km away. Even amidst a lack of facilities and proper amenities, it was their strong passion that reaped historical milestones. 

Unfortunately, sports still remain supplementary to academics in India. We have parents chasing their kids towards attaining 90 percent on exams while brushing aside their sports dreams, claiming the future to be dicey. Playing a sport is encouraged as just a hobby and people hesitate in pursuing it as their dream. Not just the mindset, even the number of sports schools and well-equipped training centers are only a handful. 

In fact, it’s the like-minded sports enthusiasts and various collectives that support and encourage their counterparts in their sports journey. Speaking to Tell-A-Story, Jungle Crows Foundation sheds light on the hurdles faced by athletes in vulnerable living conditions. Located in the northern part of Kolkata, this collective features various athletics programs and facilitates scholarships and employment opportunities for budding sports stars. 

This video story reveals the intriguing narrative of this amazing sports collective while uncovering the unusual Olympic spirit of Indian athletes. 

Suchithra Pillai comes with over 15 years of experience in the field of journalism, exploring and writing about people, issues, and community stories for many leading media publications in India and the United States.

For more such intriguing stories, subscribe to the channel. You can also follow the stories on Facebook @tellastory2020 and Instagram @tell_a_story2020

 

Divya Kakran (21) could be one of the stars of wrestling in the coming decade. (Image from Olympics.com)

India’s Potential and Heritage in Wrestling

Wrestling competitions at the Olympics have begun, and India is yet to medal. India has a seven-member contingent, which includes two women. Many may recall that Sakshi Malik won a bronze medal in 2016 in Reno.  (Incidentally, she did not make the team for Tokyo). Also, in 2012 in London, India won two medals (a rarity!) in the men’s division: a silver and a bronze. So, there is good reason for keeping our eyes on wrestling from India’s Olympic perspective.

Many of you may recall my diatribes in my earlier article where I was crying hoarsely to ‘prove’ that Indians’ lack of success in sports (other than cricket) is primarily due to lack of talent and not due to shortage of training and associated facilities and adequate financial rewards. Well, perhaps I am now backtracking somewhat from my stubborn stand earlier, due to some new information and developments. I am talking about wrestling.

India had fourth-place finishes on seven occasions! This woke me up – how come I was not aware of it? 

I have compiled the table below which includes all the medalists, and fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers in Olympic wrestling, both men and women: 

1920

Randhir Shinde: 4th in Men’s Featherweight, Freestyle

1948

Khashaba Jhadav: 6th in Men’s Flyweight, Freestyle

1952

Khashaba Jhadav: BRONZE MEDAL in Men’s Bantamweight, Freestyle

Keshav Mangave: 4th in Men’s Featherweight, Freestyle

1968

Sudesh Kumar: 6th in Men’s Flyweight, Freestyle

Udey Chand: 6th in Men’s Lightweight, Freestyle

1972

Adkar Maruti: 4th in Men’s Flyweight, Freestyle

Sudesh Kumar: 4th in Men’s Flyweight, Freestyle

Prem Nath: 4th in Men’s Bantamweight, Freestyle

1980

Jagmander Singh: 4th in Men’s Lightweight, Freestyle

Mahabir Singh: 5th in Men’s Light-Flyweight, Freestyle

1984

Rajinder Singh: 4th Men’s Welterweight, Freestyle

Mahabir Singh: 6th Men’s Flyweight, Freestyle

Rohtas Singh: 5th Men’s Bantamweight, Freestyle

1992

Subhash Verma: 6th Men’s Heavyweight, Freestyle

2008

Sushil Kumar: BRONZE MEDAL in Men’s Welterweight, Freestyle

2012

Sushil Kumar: SILVER MEDAL in Men’s Welterweight, Freestyle

Yogeshwar Dutt: BRONZE MEDAL in Men’s Lightweight, Freestyle

2016

Sakshi Malik: BRONZE MEDAL in Women’s freestyle 58 kg

The table above is surely impressive. No other Olympic sport can boast of a similar level of performance on the part of Indians (except perhaps Field Hockey, if the recent successes mature into something more substantive). 

Add to that the 59 medals in the Asian Games (11 gold, 14 silver, and 34 bronze) from 1954 to 2018 including 5 medals (2 gold, and 1 bronze) in 2018. In addition, India won 11 medals in the 2018 Commonwealth Games (5 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze). The better performances in the Commonwealth Games compared to the Asian Games are clearly reflective of the presence of wrestling powerhouses Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Japan in the Asiads.  All this has me fully convinced that there is talent in India in wrestling, a sport that has been included in all the modern Olympics and even in the Ancient Olympics in Greece.  

A Brief History of Wrestling in India

Wrestling (pehlwani or kushti) has after all been a part of our heritage from the days of yore. The epic Mahabharata is replete with the exploits of Bhima, the second Pandava who demolishes numerous kings and demons with his superhuman strength. I am tempted to put Bhima as the world’s first accomplished wrestler. 

The malla-yuddha in Ramayana speaks of the presence of wrestling in India in antiquity. There are also allusions to Krishna and his brother Balaram being legendary wrestlers.  In fact, there is a Purana dated in the thirteenth century called Malla Purana.  It describes the various wrestling techniques.  Interestingly, the techniques are named after the legendary wrestlers Jarasandha, Hanuman and Jambuvan, and of course Bhima.

Bhima kills Jarasandha in a wrestling match, a folio from the Bhagavata Purana. c. 1520–1540 (Image from the Met Museum)
Bhima kills Jarasandha in a wrestling match, a folio from the Bhagavata Purana. c. 1520–1540 (Image from the Met Museum)

However, the prevailing form of wrestling in India probably evolved during the Mughal rule by combining the native malla-yuddha (which incorporates grappling, joint-breaking, punching, biting, choking and pressure point striking) with influences from Persian sources. A particular feature that distinguished pehlwani from the earlier malla-yuddha was that strikes and kicks during a match were not allowed. Wrestling (of the pehlwani variety) became a very popular sport in the nineteenth and early parts of the twentieth century, particularly in Punjab and North India.  Many zamindars and maharajas like the Maharaja of Patiala, avidly patronized the sport and had a stable of fighters.

Legendary fighters like Karim Bux, Gulam, Rahim Baksh Sultaniwala, and The Great Gama caught the imagination of the sporting public of the day. The Great Gama (1878-1960), also known as the Gama Pehalwan, whose real name was Ghulam Mohammed Butt, was undoubtedly the greatest Indian wrestler of his time, perhaps of all time. In 2015, The Great Gama was inducted posthumously in the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (PWHF) as a wrestler of the Pioneer Era.   

Wrestling in various forms emerged as a spectator sport in various parts of India. One popular form to emerge, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, and western UP was the Dangal.  It was showcased by a popular blockbuster by the same name. The film presented the story of a Phogat family, where a man from Haryana trained his six daughters and nieces, all of whom became successful wrestlers with distinguished successes in the Asian Games and the Olympics. In our generation had all grown up with the name of Dara Singh and his match with a foreign wrestler named King Kong. 

And finally talking about our tradition of wrestling, I cannot refrain from remembering the big fat men, often with huge mustaches, gleefully engaged trying to pin down each other in akhadas (wrestling mats) in the banks of the Ganges. It is somewhat of a mystery to me as to why these dedicated and talented practitioners of the sport did not try their hand at the Olympics. Maybe it was because typical pehlwani, as practiced in India, does not translate easily to the more stringent rules of Olympic wrestling.

Partha Sircar has a BE in Civil Engineering from Bengal Engineering College in Shibpur, India, and a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a 53-year resident of the United States, including the last 36 years in California. He loves to write and can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

 

Olympian - Manu Bhaker

IC Talks With Manu Bhaker: India’s Pistol Power at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

When a dynamic teenage pistol shooter is targeting not one but multiple Golds at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020, the entire nation has to be rooting for her. 19-year-old Manu Bhaker will be seen fighting it out in the 10 meter, 25 meter air-pistol, and mixed-team shooting events at the Japanese capital after many Covid-hit hurdles. Manu took out time from her grueling practice and meditation routine in Croatia, just before heading to Tokyo, to give an exclusive interview to India Currents. 

Hailing from the small village of Goria (population of 4,590 as per the last Census, 2011) in Jhajjar district of Haryana, Manu first picked the pistol at her school’s shooting range only 5 years ago. Before that, by the age of 14, Manu had already played, excelled, and voluntarily dropped out of about a dozen other games. 

“I played almost all games which were available at Universal School Goria. And mostly left (these) games after winning medals at national and state level,” Manu shares. 

Which games are these?

“Boxing, skating, marathon, kabaddi, lawn tennis, table tennis, swimming, Tang-Ta (a sword and spear martial art from Manipur), karate, and shooting. In Tang-Ta and karate I have national medals,” elaborates Manu.   

“Shooting was also a game at Universal School and many students played it” which is how Manu had her first tryst with the pistol. Excelling at other games “did not help me in any way in preparing me for shooting.” So why did she stick to this game for so long, compared to all others? 

Manu Bhaker preparing to practice in her event - shooting.
Manu Bhaker preparing to practice in her event – shooting.

“Shooting is a transparent game with a transparent system. It’s quick and gives instant results too. Alongside these factors, early results in my career of this sport, with very little work compared to other contact sports, made me opt for this sport. I enjoy sports, but I love shooting the most,” says Manu firmly. 

“Olympic is a dream for every athlete and it is mine as well. It feels great to represent India,” Manu says about her first-ever appearance at Olympics. 

However, she’s already felt the pulse and pressure of it when she created history by becoming the first female Indian athlete ever to win Gold at the Youth Olympic Games in 2018. Breaking records several times, her talent has been shining bright across championships like Commonwealth Games (2018), ISSF Junior World Cups (2018), Asian Airgun Championships (2019 and ISSF World Cups (2018, 2019, and 2021), among many others.   

Bhaker has become the sportsperson she has while growing up in Goria and is deeply attached to her home and school. “My best childhood memories are of the School stage show where I performed the role of Goddess Saraswati. I was 4 years old and everyone praised me. Girls from standard 11/12 were bowing towards me and I couldn’t control my laughter,” shares Manu fondly. 

The presence of a healthy sports culture and the ready availability of coaches at the school played a vital role in Manu’s marvelous career path. “Goria is a beautiful village and our school on its outskirts is even more beautiful,” explains Manu. 

At the recently released NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goal India Index 2020-21, prepared in association with United Nations India, Haryana scored poorly on gender equality, among other things. Also, it is well known, that according to Census 2011, Haryana has the worst gender disparity in the country at 834 girls per 1000 boys. 

Given the situation, many would think life in Goria would have been challenging, but Manu quashes any such thoughts. “My life has always been a cakewalk due to a supportive family. My parents are absolutely amazing and always removed possible obstacles. Even the people in my village are great and support girls and boys equally,” shares Manu. “I have never heard or saw anything about inequality in my village and don’t know why some people always try to make this a topic of discussion. Actually, reservations, unemployment, and population control should be topics of concern,” she adds further.

Manu Bhaker with her family.
Manu Bhaker with her family.

Manu bagged several Gold medals at the 2017 National Games and a silver at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships almost within a year of picking up shooting. She’s been playing in both 10m and 25m events for five years, but coincidentally, has won all of her 14 international Golds in the 10m category only, playing either individually or in a team event. Yet, surprisingly, it is the 25m game that is closer to her heart. 

“I love the 25m sports pistol more. I enjoy the sound and passion. Also, it’s quick,” says Manu without any qualms. While focus and mental balance are imperative in this sport, a match at an international level has to evoke a myriad of emotions for any athlete. Does Manu feel nervous, or is she strategizing on the field with the opponent beside her? 

“I don’t plan. I don’t watch anyone’s game. I simply listen to music and keep myself calm. I listen to all kinds of music, including Haryanvi and Punjabi,” she shares. Her day starts early and she practices the super-powerful Suryanamaskar for an hour daily, without a miss. “I follow a standard routine starting yoga. And I haven’t changed this routine since I started shooting; nothing special for big events as every tournament is special for me.” 

Studies haven’t taken a backseat for her either. “It is very very important for me to excel at and complete my studies too. I do study for 1-2 hours daily even at this time,” says Manu. 

India’s best promise at Tokyo, this youngster is satisfied with the international standard ranges and infrastructure of her land. “I do continue to practice at my school range or in my house range for the 10m, but I have to travel 145km to Delhi for 25m pistol sports. Surprisingly, there is not a single 25m sports pistol range in our state, Haryana,” says Manu. 

Being good with a sword, spear, the pistol, and hand-to-hand combat arts of boxing and karate too, does she feel she has the spirit of a warrior? Does she see herself as a part of the army like her grandfather? 

“I am in all these things. But I will opt for the civil services,” says Manu with a sense of finality. 

Suruchi Tulsyan is a freelance journalist based in Kolkata, India, who loves taking care of her children and plants.