On November 10, a 21-year-old aspiring female wrestler and her younger brother were shot dead in cold blood. The murder, allegedly committed by the wrestler’s coach Pawan Bakar, took place outside a wrestling academy in Halalpur village at Sonipat in Haryana.
It was later learnt that this was a crime of passion. That wrestling academy itself was named after the disgraced Olympian Sushil Kumar is a tragic coincidence.
A few weeks earlier, Sushil, a two-time Olympic medal winner and the face of wrestling in the country, was jailed after being accused of murdering Sagar Dhankar, a 23-year-old wrestler and former junior national champion.
The Delhi police have alleged that Sushil and his ‘gang’ beat up Dhankar and two others in the parking lot of the Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi on May 4, leading to the latter’s death. The probe into the murder revealed a nexus between criminals and wrestlers, whose interests seemed to extend beyond the wrestling mat.
In February this year, a coach of Rohtak’s Jat College Akhada murdered six people in the arena; in another case in Jhajjar last year, a young wrestler was shot dead by members of another akhara (training centre) from the same village.
The incidents may appear to be isolated and unrelated, but there is no denying that the scale and regularity of these crimes have sullied the image of a sport that has brought India a rich haul of medals internationally — right from the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympics, not to mention the world championships.
It wasn’t too long back that India’s wrestlers were the toast of the nation. Movies based on their lives became blockbusters, inspiring a generation to get into the sport. They grabbed newspaper headlines and television air time. That many of them came from a rural background and modest means only added to the romance. Suddenly, things don’t look so good.
The sport’s image has taken a beating and its stakeholders — the players, coaches and those who run the akharas — are worried.
Vijay (22) and Ansul (18), are two of the several budding wrestlers who are training at Gulzar Wrestling Akhara, an academy on the outskirts of Chandigarh. This training centre has been adopted by Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Both of them say they don’t understand the crimes around the akharas. Ranbir Singh Kundu, a veteran chief coach of SAI, says, “Such incidents are bound to impact the sport. If you concentrate only on improving raw power needed to grapple rivals and the mind isn’t trained to focus on competitions, deviations will happen.”
“We have been viewing Sushil ji as our hero. We remain motivated by watching his videos. But what happened was very unfortunate. It should not have happened. As pehelwans, we have to lead the way,” says Vijay. He is a student of Chandigarh University.
Lack of regulation
Some prominent coaches and those running wrestling akharas too admit that such incidents have not only dented the credibility of the training centres, but have also left them with a lot of brainstorming to do.
The huge money to be made in wrestling — cash prizes running into crores, government jobs and other incentives — has drawn in sporting talent not just from Haryana but neighbouring states as well.
All this, in turn, has led to the mushrooming of private-run akharas in Haryana, which borders the national capital on one side and is surrounded by Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan on the other three sides.
Unlike the ones adopted by the SAI or those decades-old institutions carrying forth the legacy and title of famed wrestlers and coaches, many of them run in an unregulated fashion.
While the money and fame at stake have accentuated competition between akharas, their inability to produce world-class wrestlers has frustrated budding pehelwans (wrestlers).
Om Parkash Dahiya, a former chief coach of SAI, runs Pratap Sports Academy in Sonipat. He says the image of Haryana akharas have taken a hit after such incidents.
“We have been witnessing commercialisation of such venues. Some akharas have been run by people with unproven antecedents who have nothing at stake,” he told DH.
“An akhara is as good as its coaches and the ones running it,” he added, but maintained that many of the crimes involving the akharas came down to individual shortcomings, and were not institutionalised.
In nearby Jhajjar district stands another SAI adopted akhara — the Lala Diwan Chand Yog and Wrestling Centre run by coach Virender Arya, who is also the national president of the Arya Samaj Kashtriya Sabha.
When asked whether fear and anxiety have crept into the minds of students and families after these crimes, he said, “Parents who are sending their children to akharas are bound to be apprehensive. But it is important to work towards removing the stigma that has stuck to wrestling.”
Drug angle
Virender Arya also claimed that the heavy use of drugs, essentially steroids used in supplements by some athletes, is something to ward off as it often generates erratic behavioural tendencies that prove dangerous for the sport.
Many private akharas in Haryana are not governed by a code of conduct. The developments surrounding the sport and a series of crimes are now alarming enough for the government to intervene.
The Haryana government is mulling a regulatory plan for these akharas, which could act as a confidence-building measure and prevent the sport from sliding into further ignominy.
Although the plan is in its nascent stage, a delegation of eminent people associated with the akharas met Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh in Chandigarh recently.
“The government is keen on licensing to regulate akharas. The idea is to secure students in these arenas by giving a certain declaration that may possibly hold akharas liable for any deviation. The government has to come out with a concrete plan,” Arya told DH.
Kundu and other veteran coaches like him, including Dahiya, have an outlandish take on one important way to retain the sport’s glory — they want to keep male and female wrestlers in separate akharas “to avoid a possible crisis situation,” but insist it should not be read as the misogynist move it is.
As further proof of their theory, they say that more than 90% of women wrestlers who have brought fame to the nation trained at independent akharas for girls.
There is no dearth of young men and women pumping iron at the akharas. Many of them eulogise the home-bred champions and fancy their chances in the international area.
The akharas and the tradition they have infused into wrestling have undoubtedly elevated the standard of the sport in the country. But the recent spate of crimes around these monasteries, some even taking place within the mud grounds the sport holds so sacred, have shaken the very foundation of the sport.
Unchecked, they may threaten its very existence.
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