Akhada - A Breeding Ground Where India Has Produced Its Greatest Wrestling Legacies
Akhada is an Indian word for a place of practice with facilities for boarding, lodging and training. Far from the glam and world-class infrastructure, akhadas have been conventional breeding grounds for Indian wrestlers.
Wrestling is a very old sport, and has been at the forefront of India’s good showing at the world stage. It’s a sport that is very popular in states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi.
It has a vast presence in rural beds, but it has struggled against the paucity of funds in the absence of any financial and other logistic support.
Irrespective of all the age-old problems of investment and facilities, akhadas have proven to be the nurturing base for the wrestlers. The same akhadas have produced wrestlers like Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Sakshi Malik and many others.
There achievements are testament to the effectiveness and impact that the akhadas have had. These Olympic medal winning wrestlers have one thing in common - they have all come through the ranks of akhadas.
Most of the akhadas in India are run by local villagers, who invest and look after them. The local wrestlers are groomed into winners - they are not only taught the art of wrestling, but molded into tough competitors.
The local akhadas are home to the greatest wrestling legacies in India. The start of which was in 1952 Helsinki Olympics, when Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won a bronze medal for India in Men's freestyle bantamweight.
Indian wrestlers have continued tasting success and flourished in the sport. It being very evident from the brilliant showing at the Olympics in the last three editions - where India have won a total of four medals - one silver and three bronze.
The new age wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat, Deepak Punia and Pooja Dhanda, have all been bred in the akhadas. Wrestling is India's second most successful sport after Olympics, having won a total of five medals.
The stories are quite astonishing and the amount of wrestlers who have won laurels for India, majority of them have come from akhadas. The 'mitti'of these akhadas has it in abundance - the magic to produce stars.
All the glorious chapters in wrestling have been giving their start in akhadas, and given the stage to take off. Akhadas continue to nurture and produce winners.
Yaha ki mitti mein kuch alag baat hai' better sums up everything about akhadas.