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Dangal effect? Mahavir Singh Phogat's akhara finally gets wrestling mat
By Aman Sharma, ET Bureau | Updated: Jan 02, 2017, 06.34 AM IST
BALALI (HARYANA): Call it the Dangal effect, if only for the sheer timing - Mahavir Singh Phogat's akhara in Balali village has become the first in Haryana to get a wrestling mat from the state government.
In a telling scene in the recently released film, Aamir Khan playing the wrestler and Olympics coach is snubbed when he pleads with a local sports official for funds to buy a wrestling mat so that his budding daughters can practice on it rather than in a sand bed.
This was a reality for Phogat for a decade.
But now, all other akharas in the state, most of which have sand beds for wrestlers, are also set to get wrestling mats.
The state government has also promised to make Phogat's wrestling hall air-conditioned, build separate changing rooms for men and women wrestlers, and even build a stadium in the village if the panchayat makes land available.
Phogat is not flashing the victory sign just yet, though.
In a telling scene in the recently released film, Aamir Khan playing the wrestler and Olympics coach is snubbed when he pleads with a local sports official for funds to buy a wrestling mat so that his budding daughters can practice on it rather than in a sand bed.
This was a reality for Phogat for a decade.
But now, all other akharas in the state, most of which have sand beds for wrestlers, are also set to get wrestling mats.
The state government has also promised to make Phogat's wrestling hall air-conditioned, build separate changing rooms for men and women wrestlers, and even build a stadium in the village if the panchayat makes land available.
Phogat is not flashing the victory sign just yet, though.
"This is only a standard wrestling mat given by the government after a wait of so many years - I had put a similar one here few years ago from my own funds. The government should provide us the Olympics-standard mat for the akharas so that our boys and girls practice from the start on the mat on which they later have to compete for international medals," Phogat said.
He said he will now take up the matter with the Haryana sports minister Anil Vij.
"Our chief minister, ML Khattar, and sports minister had announced after Sakshi Malik won an Olympics medal at Rio last year that every registered akhara would get a wrestling mat. A start has been made from Mahavir Singh Phogat's akhara," Laxman Singh Saini, Bhiwani district's sports and youth officer told ET. "He has asked for an Olympics standard mat, though. The government is looking into it."
Wrestling mats conforming to the Olympics standard, which can be seen in India's major stadiums, are made of thicker and higher density foam than that used in standard mats of the sort that Phogat's akhara has been provided with. Olympics standard mats offer greater protection and impact absorption, and therefore lead to much fewer injuries to wrestlers.
"After practising on the standard mat for years, Olympics mat par pair nahin jamte shuru se (one's feet do not move swiftly on Olympics mat immediately after practising on the standard one for years)," said a young wrestler at Phogat's akhara.
"After practising on the standard mat for years, Olympics mat par pair nahin jamte shuru se (one's feet do not move swiftly on Olympics mat immediately after practising on the standard one for years)," said a young wrestler at Phogat's akhara.
He said he will now take up the matter with the Haryana sports minister Anil Vij.
"Our chief minister, ML Khattar, and sports minister had announced after Sakshi Malik won an Olympics medal at Rio last year that every registered akhara would get a wrestling mat. A start has been made from Mahavir Singh Phogat's akhara," Laxman Singh Saini, Bhiwani district's sports and youth officer told ET. "He has asked for an Olympics standard mat, though. The government is looking into it."
Wrestling mats conforming to the Olympics standard, which can be seen in India's major stadiums, are made of thicker and higher density foam than that used in standard mats of the sort that Phogat's akhara has been provided with. Olympics standard mats offer greater protection and impact absorption, and therefore lead to much fewer injuries to wrestlers.
"After practising on the standard mat for years, Olympics mat par pair nahin jamte shuru se (one's feet do not move swiftly on Olympics mat immediately after practising on the standard one for years)," said a young wrestler at Phogat's akhara.
"After practising on the standard mat for years, Olympics mat par pair nahin jamte shuru se (one's feet do not move swiftly on Olympics mat immediately after practising on the standard one for years)," said a young wrestler at Phogat's akhara.
About 50 young boys and girls practice daily at Phogat's akhara which has produced three Olympians in Geeta, Babita and their cousin Vinesh Phogat. The akhara, right next to his house in Balali, has basic gym training equipment and the colour demarcations on Phogat's own mat have faded away, but a genset bought by Phogat lately ensures power cuts do not affect the training.
Pictures of Aamir Khan with Phogat now adorn walls of Phogat's room. Last week, Khan sponsored a screening of Dangal for Balali villagers, who packed in three buses to travel 45 kilometres to a cinema hall in Bhiwani.
Phogat said he and his daughters have been complaining of no help from the state for years.
Pictures of Aamir Khan with Phogat now adorn walls of Phogat's room. Last week, Khan sponsored a screening of Dangal for Balali villagers, who packed in three buses to travel 45 kilometres to a cinema hall in Bhiwani.
Phogat said he and his daughters have been complaining of no help from the state for years.
This seems to be changing now.
A senior Haryana government official told ET that the state had last year proposed a Rs 15 crore budget for purchase of wrestling mats and gym training equipment. Haryana has won maximum medals at Asiad and Commonwealth Games in wrestling, and akharas in villages across the state are seen as fertile breeding grounds for future medallists, but these traditional training centres suffer from want of funds and equipment.
Dangal may well help pin down the problem and spur a change.
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