The Story Of The Unsung Hero Of Wrestling

Intern: Prashant Sharma

“The only Olympic Medalist who never received a Padma Award”

WHO IS HE? IS HE A VETERAN MOVIE STAR? IS HE A FREEDOM FIGHTER?

These were the response from my friends when I first mentioned the name of KHASHABA DADASAHEB JADHAV to them. Expectedly they were as clueless as I was when I first heard the name before stumbling on to a brilliant piece of book written by Sanjay Sudhane on the life of the legendary Indian wrestler KHASHABA DADASAHEB JADHAV. The book titled Olympic Veer K D Jadhav showcased glimpses of the great wrestler’s life.

KHASHABA DADASAHEB JADHAV was the first Indian wrestler to win a Bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki He was the first ever individual Olympic medalist of Independent India. He went on to hold this record for fifty years and was finally broken when Leander Paes won the bronze in 1996.

Jadhav was born to Dadasaheb Jadhav on January 15, 1926 and belonging to a family with wrestling background prompted him to take up wrestling as his career. Soon he became the champion at his birthplace Goleshwar Tal in Satara district in Maharashtra after defeating the local champion in just two minutes. He was coached by Rees Gardner prior to his first Olympic appearance in the 1948 LONDON OLYMPICS where he finished sixth.

There is an interesting story about him being selected for the 1952 summer Olympics in Helsinki. Initially he was not selected for the summer Olympics after falling prey to nepotism due to which he got one point less than the eventual winner at the Madras Nationals which ruled him out of the Olympics .After realizing that he was been cheated he approached the Maharaja of Patiala to get Justice. The Maharaja himself was an avid lover of sports and arranged his entry in Olympic trials where he floored his opponent and won an entry in the Olympics. But this was not the only hurdle he had to go through as he and his family was short on finance and couldn’t fund his Olympic venture. His family went around the village begging for donations to fund his dream. In a very noble gesture the principal of Jadhav’s college mortgaged his own house for 7000 and helped Jadhav.

He put up an impressive show defeating the players from countries like Mexico, Germany before bowing out in the semifinals after finding it difficult to adjust to the mat surface. After returning to the country he was given a grand welcome and everyone draped in the moment of happiness, pride and joy but sadly all of this slowly faded away as he was continuously ignored and finally forgotten by the Indian government for his contributions.

He was not only a wrestler but was also a part of the QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT. He served the Indian Police Department for a whopping 27 years before retiring as the ASST. Police Commissioner. But as mentioned before, he never got what he deserved as a national hero. Even after a long time of service he had to fight for his basic rights such as his pension. It was heart wrenching to know that he spent the last days of his life in extreme poverty before dying in a road accident in 1984. Even after his death and his terrible plight the government of India has still failed to acknowledge his contribution and he remains the only Olympic medalist to have never received a Padma award.

Many efforts are being made to bring the legendary wrestler in the limelight and one such effort is being made by Ritesh Deshmukh the Bollywood actor and producer who have decided to produce a movie titled POCKET DYNAMO on the life of the unsung hero. We can only hope such an effort will make the country realize and acknowledge our FORGOTTEN CHAMPION.

 

 Also Read - A tribute to female wrestlers

Traditional Sports in India: The Games of Indian Streets

India, the land of traditions, is a Nation that celebrates the conventions coming from diverged fragments. India is intensely enmeshed in the culture of regions and is entangled in the widely followed traditions and customs. The Nation is known for the unity in diversity. India is rich in the culture that has been taken by the Indian civilians from one generation to the other. India is stepping to the modernization and is evolving as a great power in front of the globe still the natives are intact with their traditions and the inhabitants can still be seen playing their traditional sports on the streets of the Nation. Indians are getting still involved in the traditional sports mark the sentiment of people still being affixed with their culture. Here are the few traditional sports of India that can make you close to the typical Indian era of playing. 

1.    Gilli Danda: One of the most played games of the generations; Gilli Danda is the amateur sport of rural areas and small towns. The natives that live in the country side and represent the real India, have always nurtured this game of two sticks. The game is played with the larger and smaller sticks. The larger one is known as the Danda and the smaller one is known as the Gilli. In the game, the player has to stand in a small circle; the player balances the Gilli on a stone in an inclined manner with one end of the Gilli touching the ground while the other end in the air. While it is in the air, the player strikes the Gilli, hitting it as far as possible. The best part of the game is that there is no official maximum number of player or team. The game belongs to the Indian Soil and depicts the Indian Culture. 

2.     Langdi: Langdi is traditional Indian Field Sport and is similar to the hopscotch. The game is played by the cherishing kids on the streets of India. The players of this game have to hop on one foot on the drawn lines on the ground. Langdi is known by the divergent names and it is a sport that is near to the Indian hearts. The Indian girls find the game more close to them as the game is known as their favorite sport to play in the evening.

3.    Kho- Kho: Kho-Kho is another game that comes from the Indian Soil. It is one of the two most popular traditional sports that come from the Indian Subcontinent, the other being Kabaddi. In the game there are two teams consisting of 12 players each, the rounds of chasing and running are done and the game is relished by the team members sitting in the Zig-Zag manner.  The game is very economical as it uses only a pole or a pillar followed by the lime powder and the watch for time measurement.

4.   Kite Flying: Kite flying and kite festivals are the major events of commemoration in India. Kite flying is an allured sport among the Indian Natives. The flying colorful papers tied with a thread rolled in a pinball depicts the astonishing wish of people to fly high in the sky. The sport brings the moments of joy among the Indian families. The fervor is seen in the sky when it is occupied by the colorful kites and it is indeed a feast to the eye.

5.      Lattu (Gaming Top): Babaram or Lattu is the game that is played by every growing child in India. The game is more popular among the boys and is remembered as the best childhood memories. In the game the toss is decided by the top being spun and picked up quickly. The tops that did not complete the toss will be placed in the center of a circle. The people who managed to finish the toss successfully try to spin the top over the tops. Each time the spinning tops have to be picked successfully to continue.

Archery: The Game of Ancient and Modern India

Archery, the game of Warship and Kingship, is one among the prime ancient sports in India. The efforts made by the battle heroes with the help of bow and arrow gained a triumph over several kingdoms. Right from the ancient and mythological periods, people were efficiently trained to use Bows and Arrows. Earlier the archery was done for the hunting then it was used in the battles and now archery is a major International Sport. It is said that the oldest bow used by the archers are natives of Denmark. The evidences of Archery have been found in many countries like Sweden, Denmark and Egypt.  Earlier the bows were the short bows which were used for the hunting. The Egyptians were the first to design composite bows. The Japanese developed the Archery in two forms, which are Kyodo and Yabusame. These two forms are still famed as the martial arts techniques in Japan.

Indian History: The game is believed to be originated from the times of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Archery is the sport that is known for its deep-seated connection with the Indian Mythology and History. The history of Archery in India dates back to the Vedic Period. Archery was continued as a major technique of defense till nineteenth century and now it is taken as the major Olympic Sport. The game of archery is played with the two basic instruments known as the bow and arrow. The measurement of target is approximately 8- 10 inches in height and 3 inches in diameter. While playing, the players take aim at the target from a distance of 30 meters. The practice of Archery is known as the Archer. 

In India, there are several types of Archery forms that are practiced. In the Bionic Buck kind of archery, the Archers attempt to shoot through a small hole in the kill area of a cast iron steel deer target. In Golf Archery, the ball is replaced by an arrow and the clubs are replaced by a bow. The Dart archery uses the darts and is having the greater distance and uses proportional sectored target. In Broad-head Round is a kind of Archery game that features archers shooting broad head-tipped arrows. They shoot the arrows through single sheet cardboard cutouts of animals that remain hung between two wooden poles, and strung in the air with bendable wire, with a large dirt mound behind it as a backstop. Another form of Archery is the Night shooting form of archery game that consists of the archers who go out on a short, one round course. The archers use flashlights to light their way through the course and also to shine the targets.

India is having a profound tryst with the game of Archery. The game was chosen as the part of the Olympic discipline in 1972 and India established the Archery Association in 1973. The organization runs for the exhilaration of the game in the nation and to fetch the International recognition for the game. The AAI works for the strength of the game in the Nation.  

Find the list of Archery Academies in India.