A Look Into Chhatrasal, The Breeding Floor For Indian Wrestling Skills

Wrestling has been a go-to sport for India at Olympics up to now 16 years. The game has produced medals for the nation in each version of the Video games since 2008. Within the final 5 editions of Olympics wrestling has given India seven medals. Sushil Kumar (bronze in 2008 and silver in 2012), Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze in 2012), Sakshi Malik (bronze in 2016), Ravi Kumar Dahiya (silver in 2021), Bajrang Punia (bronze in 2021) and Aman Sehrawat (bronze in 2024) are the names who’ve earned the accolades for the nation on the sports activities largest extravaganza.

It’s attention-grabbing to notice that each one the athletes named above, excluding Sakshi, are the merchandise of Chhatrasal – a venue that has been the breeding floor for Indian wrestling skills.

It was in 1988 when former India wrestler Satpal Singh with different coaches Ramphal Mann, a.okay.a. Guru Ramphal, and Pradeep Sharma began the akhada on the premises of Chhatrasal Stadium, said Times Of India in a report.

Satpal himself shone on the Commonwealth Video games and Asian Video games with a number of medals, however he failed to complete on the podium at Olympics in his two appearances in 1972 and 1980. The Video games medal void in his illustrious profession was one thing that propelled Satpal to begin the Chhatrasal Akhada.

“Ek mann mein tees thi (there was a ache in my coronary heart of not profitable an Olympic medal). That is why I began the akhada on the Chhatrasal Stadium. I wished to churn out Olympic medallists for the nation,” Satpal advised TOI. “Now we’ve got produced not one, however six Olympic medallists.”

Simply 4 years after beginning the akhada, Satpal realised the necessity of mat apart from the specifically designed filth flooring, that are a lot well-known in Indian wrestling.

Quick ahead to 2024, the akhada has all the trendy equipments and services which can be required for wrestlers to turn out to be world champions. After locking a bronze medal for himself in Paris Olympics, Aman carried ahead Chhatarsal’s wealthy legacy.