‘Hind Kesari’ Ganpat Andalkar leaves legacy state wrestlers can aspire for

83-year-old Andalkar died at a private hospital in Pune on Sunday

Born in a farmer’s family, Ganpat Andalkar remained connected to the soil till his last breath. However, instead of continuing the family tradition, he chose the red soil of the wrestling akhara and brought laurels to the country.

In the 1950s, Andalkar started his wrestling career from Kolhapur. His coach was Babasaheb Veer at the Motibag talim in Kolhapur. (HT Photo)

On Sunday, the 83-year-old Andalkar died at a private hospital in Pune. He was admitted to a hospital in Kolhapur last week and was then shifted to Pune. However, the ‘Hind Kesari’ lost his final battle on September 16.

In the 1950s, Andalkar started his wrestling career from Kolhapur. His coach was Babasaheb Veer at the Motibag talim in Kolhapur. Andalkar soon got a grip on the sport and came into the limelight when he defeated Pakistan wrestler Nasir Panjabi in 1958, at a packed Khasbag ground. This was just the beginning and he went on to beat several top-notch Pakistan wrestlers like Goga Punjabi and Sadik Punjabi.

Andalkar’s biggest title came two years later, in 1960, when he defeated Punjab’s famous wrestler Khadak Singh and won the prestigious Hind Kesari title. His success brought a boost to Maharashtra, and particularly to Kolhapur wrestling.

Andalkar was hungry for more and rather than stick to mud wrestling, he took special efforts to learn the skills of mat wrestling. He was the pioneer who inspired traditional wrestlers in Maharashtra to test new grounds with mat wrestling. His hard work and passion paid off and he was selected in the Indian squad for the Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1962. He justified his selection and won a gold medal in the Greco Roman category and a silver medal in free-style.

His performance earned him a berth for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He had to struggle on various fronts, like weather, language, food and, as he claimed, lack of attention from Indian officials. He reached round four and missed a bronze medal. His efforts earned him the prestigious Arjuna award the same year.

It was the last international for Andalkar and he changed his shoes and took on a roles as coach. In his long career, he produced several wrestlers who won international titles. Rustum-E-Hind and Commonwealth silver medallist Dadu Chougule, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ram Sarang, international wrestler Sambhaji Warute and double Maharashtra Kesari Chandrahar Patil, among the many.

Andalkar was later awarded Maharashtra government’s ‘Shiv Chhatrapati Award’ in 1982 for his contribution to wrestling.