‘Dangal, Sultan toh abhi aayi hain, yahan ladkiyan 20 saal se lad rahin hain’

Last year saw the release of two wrestling-based films, Sultan and Dangal, and both became top grossers at the box office. Apart from bringing wrestling from dusty akhadas to people’s living rooms, the two films also had champion female wrestlers as their lead characters. While Sultan’s Aarfa and Dangal’s Geeta and Babita honed their skills in akhadas of remote Haryana villages, young female pehelwans of Delhi have been honing their skills at the city’s akhadas for many years now.The clay has given way to mats, but the exhaustive routine has stayed the same. A typical day for these wrestlers begins at the crack of dawn and includes rigorous exercises and a disciplined routine that has produced countless champions in the past. We visited the famous Master Chandgiram Akhara in Civil Lines, where female wrestlers have been training for 20 years now, to get a glimpse of a day in the life of Delhi’s young female wrestler.
‘Dangal, Sultan toh abhi aayi hain, yahan ladkiyaan 20 saal se lad rahi hain’
Established in the mid-1970s by champion wrestler Master Chandgiram, the akhada is currently run by his son, Jagdish Kaliraman, also a former wrestler. Kaliraman, a former Bharat Kesari (Bharat Kesari Dangal is a free-style wrestling competition organised by the Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs department), proudly proclaims, “Yeh films toh ab release hui hain. Hamare yahan toh ladkiyaan 1997 se akhade mein lad rahi hain. They have been a part of our akhada ever since female wrestling was accepted as a sport at the international level. Many have gone on to win international medals. These girls follow the same routine that their seniors did.”
The senior female athletes, however, admit that post the release of the two movies, the craze for wrestling has seen an unprecedented surge. Renu Balia, who trains at the akhada and has won a gold medal at the All India Police Games, says, “I’ve been wrestling for the last five years, but I’ve never seen such a craze for the sport. We have always had girls at our akhada, but in the last one year, people have started appreciating what we do. We owe this to Sakshi Malik and Geeta Phogat. When I say I am a wrestler, they look at me with respect. People ask me, ‘Tum toh mat pe ladti ho na?’, ‘Kabhi kisi ko utha kar patka hai?’”

Being a part of such a physical sport means that girls often get injured, which sometimes also leaves visible scars, but the pehelwans have come to bear them proudly. Aditi Sharma, a first-year student at Ramjas College, says, “Every morning, I come to the akhada and then go to college. Aaj kisi ne chehre pe punch maar diya toh khoon nikal aaya, kal yeh aankh ke neeche chot lagi thi. Roz dost dekh kar puchhte hain, ‘Aaj phir se maar kha kar aayi ho? It’s not that students from my college are not into sports, in fact, Ramjas girls are known for sports, Tanu Weds Manu-2 ki Datto bhi toh Ramjas ki thi!”

Being a part of the gruelling sport of wrestling, most female athletes prefer short hair over long tresses. Ruchi Chaudhary, a trainee wrestler, who got a haircut recently, tells us, “I never had the courage to go for a boy-cut because I had long hair and I kind of liked it. But then when I joined wrestling, I had to cut it short and two days back I got this boy-cut.”
Nidhi Chaudhary and Ruchi Chaudhary grapple in a training session (BCCL)

About a dozen girls train at the akhada. Every morning, their training begins right at the crack of dawn. Ajit Pal Khatri, a coach at the akhada, says, “The girls get here by 5am during summer and 7am during winter. Then, we go for a 3km run to a park nearby. Following this, there are warm up and stretching sessions. Then there is a two-hour-long session where they learn techniques of the sport, and do basic weight training.” Bouts, or zor, as they are called in the akhada, is one of the most important techniques of wrestling, but these wrestlers do not get to fight their opponents daily. “Bouts are only done once the girls’ techniques are sound,” adds Khatri.

The discipline and routine isn’t limited to just exercising. It extends to the diet too. Remember the scene in Dangal, where the girls are asked to wake up in the morning and served teekhe golgappe as they won’t be able to eat them again? Delhi’s female wrestlers say they have to adhere to the same parhez. “Hum bhi pehalwanon ki zindagi jeete hain. It’s been years since I had a plate full of golgappas. If you have to maintain the body of an athlete, you can’t take a chance. Once you stop eating these things, you even stop craving for them,” says Nidhi Chaudhary, a wrestler from Khurja, UP.
No dumb-bells are too heavy for Simpy! (BCCL)

Despite the popularity that wrestling has received with Dangal and Sultan, some girls admit they are still apprehensive about how their families will react to their choice. Some have not even told their parents about it yet. Simpi, a class XII student who lives in east Delhi, tells us, “My father doesn’t even know that I come every morning for wrestling. I don’t know how he will react. I want to win some medals before breaking the news to him. Kuch jeet kar jaungi, toh papa shaayad maan jayenge ki kuch kar ke toh aayi hai.”
Girls go for a 3km run everyday before starting their training (BCCL)

The akhadas of Delhi differ from the training academies of other sports in one big way. None of them charge any fees from the aspiring wrestlers but make do with donations, personal funds, and contributions from the authorities and Sports Authority of India. Sahdev Singh Balyan, a coach at the akhada, says, “There is no fees for the wrestlers. When a girl comes to us and expresses interest in learning wrestling, we screen her and see if she is really serious about it. That’s all that matters to us. We also call the parents and ask them if they are fine with their girl wrestling at the akhada. Wrestling tapasya hai. It requires total devotion. We have to be sure that the girl has that before we invest in her.”
No golgappas for Delhi’s female wrestlers, instead, they go for healthy juices (BCCL)