Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya and Aman Sehrawat — India’s final 5 winners of Olympic medals in males’s wrestling (the one different was KD Jadhav, in 1952). However there’s one thing else that connects this most illustrious group of Indian sportsmen: Chhatrasal Stadium.
The of them have been educated, had their abilities finessed, in Chhatrasal, the legendary residential academy (akhada is the extra apt identify) located in north-west Delhi. It is not an exaggeration to name it the nation’s wrestling nursery, the place aspiring wrestlers, primarily from the neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, come as kids and spend years right here studying the game. And once they win laurels, as so many have carried out, every of them credit their success to Chhatrasal.
Located within the congested Mannequin City neighbourhood, there’s little indication from the skin of its legendary standing. The boundary partitions are adorned with the neatly painted faces of Subhas Chandra Bose, Neeraj Chopra, Ravi Dahiya – the one clues that it could possibly be a sporting facility. It is solely the imposing, 10-feet-high black iron gate construction that bears the identify and provides it away.
Strolling in, you may see a basketball court docket and kabaddi court docket on the skin and a operating observe and soccer area surrounded by a 16,000-seater stand. The stadium hostedfootball membership Sudeva FC’s I-League matches final 12 months, state athletics occasions are held on the operating observe, and it is also been used for native occasions and Independence Day celebrations.
However what catches your consideration is the beeline of muscular younger males marching in direction of a ramp that results in an underground corridor. The indoor coaching corridor – situated in what was a automotive parking zone – is the heartbeat of the campus, the place these 5 Olympic medals have been made.
The pedigree is so wealthy it deserves mentioning once more:
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Sushil Kumar: India’s most profitable wrestler on the Olympics with two medals and India’s first wrestling world champion.
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Yogeshwar Dutt: Bronze medallist on the 2012 London Video games
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Bajrang Punia: Bronze on the Tokyo Olympics and the one Indian wrestler ever to have 4 World Championship medals
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Ravi Dahiya: Solely the second Indian wrestler ever to win an Olympic silver medal
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And now Aman, bronze medallist at 22 and reckoned to have a vibrant future forward of him
The institutional data – the truth that generations of wrestling greats have been groomed right here – is one purpose for Chhatrasal’s standing. What in all probability makes the place really distinctive, although, is its democratic method of functioning: irrespective of who you’re, you are still handled the identical as others. Legend has it that Sushil used to sleep on the ground, with none AC, earlier than his Olympic medals.
It is why in just a few days from now, regardless of having an Olympic medal to his identify, Aman will fortunately return to his 40-square-foot room within the campus – a room that he shares with two others. The room is stuffed with inspirational writing and messages on the wall; there is a tiny pantry connected; the washroom is a 30m stroll away.
Aman’s success predates the Olympics – he was the primary Indian male ever to win the U23 World Championships and is an Arjuna Awardee, however he is not obtained any particular therapy. He trains with everybody else, getting up on the daybreak for the morning session, doing 600-1000 uthak baithaks (sit-ups) with everybody else, climbing the ropes and grappling on the sand pits earlier than heading to the mat – after which doing it once more within the night.
“For us, everyone seems to be equal right here,” says Aman’s coach Lalit Kumar whereas pointing to a 17-year-old wrestler. That is Ankush, who’s Chhatrasal’s next-big-thing within the 57kg class, a part of this meeting line.
And that has so much to do with the sort of legends they develop up round. Every budding wrestler goes by way of a rigorous trial carried out by the coaches and are accepted provided that they show their potential. Wrestlers are accepted to the establishment from the age of 10 and so they attend faculties close by. It is vital for them to attend faculty as that permits them to compete at school-level tournaments and that in flip helps the academy increase funds.
The academy was based by Dronacharya awardee Satpal Singh in 1988. After successful three consecutive silvers on the Commonwealth Video games and a gold on the 1982 Asian Video games, Satpal was appointed as a deputy director within the schooling division of the Delhi authorities [Ravi Dahiya holds the same post now].
Satpal wasn’t in a position to medal in two Olympics and wished to satisfy his coach Vijay Pal Yadav, aka Guru Hanuman’s dream of an Olympic medal and that is how the concept of the akhada was born: with the only real intention of successful Olympic medals for India. The outcomes are there to see.
Inside the house of Indian wrestling: Chhatrasal Stadium ft. Olympic bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat ��
LINK: https://t.co/22eCZqC6Ul#Olympics | #Wrestling pic.twitter.com/APbt3DsCM2
– Shyam Vasudevan (@JesuisShyam) August 12, 2024
Even in the present day, the wrestlers pay an inexpensive month-to-month charge of ₹3000 rupees, which takes care of their coaching, vitamin (limitless non-spicy meals with plenty of desi ghee) and keep. It is a meagre sum contemplating what they get in return: an opportunity to study from and prepare alongside India’s largest wrestlers. Aman, for instance, joined as a 10-year-old and learnt the game by watching Sushil. He would prepare on the identical mats, do the identical workout routines and eat the identical meals as Sushil, which made him consider that at some point he may do what Sushil was doing on the international stage.
The senior wrestlers are inspired to assist the youthful ones in no matter method attainable: for instance, if one of many senior wrestlers is sponsored by a protein complement model or an attire model, he shares the stuff he will get with the three or 4 juniors connected with him. That helps the juniors develop and it does not have an effect on the seniors since they get much more. That is why you may see many of the wrestlers carrying branded wrestling outfits or guzzling on protein shakes; the system inside the system makes it occur.
There are not any actual materials comforts at Chhatrasal, you are constructed to be robust. When this author visited the stadium in June, he noticed a 10-year-old, among the many youngest there, weeping whereas being comforted by his three associates. “Ghar ki yaad aa rahi hai” he wept. The coaches then cajoled him into feeling higher, however that is how life is right here. It is not straightforward. That is how Aman was when he got here right here as a 10-year-old; he misplaced his dad and mom quickly after and stayed on. It is not very best or comforting, nevertheless it’s all a part of the method that ultimately turns them into world-beating wrestlers.
There is a new advanced being constructed on the premises that is anticipated to be accomplished by subsequent 12 months. The seven-storey tower can have rooms with central air-conditioning and indoor coaching halls, which might add a contemporary contact to the present desi methods in place. At present, a few of the rooms are shared by over 10 juniors, whereas the senior wrestlers with large medals to their names, are allotted rooms on a three-sharing foundation with a window AC unit.
There’s a seamy facet to the campus that has additionally made headlines within the latest previous. Probably the most well-known case concerned Sushil Kumar – the two-time Olympic medallist was arrested on homicide fees after a brawl on the campus led to the demise of former junior nationwide wrestling champion Sagar Dhankhar. Sushil is at present in Tihar Jail awaiting trial.
Extra lately, an incident in Might noticed a participant assault a coach, which left the coach with a number of stitches. In response, the variety of college students has been decreased – till lately, batches used to have 250 college students, nevertheless it’s been restricted to 150 lately – and wrestlers now need to be again contained in the campus by 9pm. The safety on the entrance has additionally been stepped up.
However that doesn’t change Chhatrasal’s illustrious observe report and it is a private victory for Satpal, who was taunted when he launched the academy 36 years in the past. “Medal ped pe latka hai kya? [do medals grow on trees?]” he was chided. The naysayers did not cease him or the wrestlers from doing what they needed to do.
“Chhatrasal is actually the house of Indian wrestling and has all of it – Olympic medals, junior world champions, cadet champions, Arjuna awardees, Padma Shri awardees and Dronacharya awardees…all that is lacking is an Olympic gold. Aman will win that in 2028,” says Satpal.