Wrestler Sangram Singh says that given his humble background, he considers himself lucky to have come this far in life. And now, as a way to give something back to the little village in Haryana where he comes from, Singh is set to develop and restructure an old akhara (wrestling pit) there.
“I come from an almost unknown village near Rohtak called Madina, and that is where I started my wrestling career. Now that I have been able to establish myself in whatever little way, I want to do something for the children of my village so that they can have an akhara that is in keeping with how wrestling pits are at the national level,” says Singh, who visited his village last week as a first step to discuss the plans with the locals there.
“This is the oldest akhara we have in that area. Children still come there to learn, but the facilities aren’t good,” says Singh, and explains, “I intend to upgrade certain things. Like, internationally now, wrestling is done on mats and not on mud. I want to build that wrestling hall for them.”
And he has another agenda too. “My guruji, Pandit Satvir Maharaj, who was the head of the akhara, left the village a few years back and now lives in Puskhar, I intend to bring him back so that he can train the kids and also have a good life himself. But first, I want to build the akhara for him, and then gift it to him as a surprise,” says Singh, who is also ready to build akharas in other villages to spread the sport, if he is approached.
{{/usCountry}}And he has another agenda too. “My guruji, Pandit Satvir Maharaj, who was the head of the akhara, left the village a few years back and now lives in Puskhar, I intend to bring him back so that he can train the kids and also have a good life himself. But first, I want to build the akhara for him, and then gift it to him as a surprise,” says Singh, who is also ready to build akharas in other villages to spread the sport, if he is approached.
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