Monastic wrestlers emerge to seek glory

Wrestlers from an ancient organisation in India seek to emerge on the international stage.

Indian men exercise in their traditional fight club.

NEW DELHI // Every morning before sunrise, the men and boys of Old Delhi's Guru Hanuman wrestling school meet in the grounds of a crumbling Mughal tomb to practise exercises even more ancient than their surroundings. For an hour, until beams of golden light penetrate the misty garden, the burly athletes play a game of catch followed by squats and piggyback sprints. Their methods are simple and ancient; without equipment they use each other's weight to increase their strength - a practice known as sawari, literally "passenger".

But Maha Singh Rao, their coach, has a more modern challenge on his mind today. Inspired by Indian wrestlers' performance at the Beijing Olympics, he wants his charges to apply for passports so they too can compete in international competitions, and help to drag this ancient sport into the 21st century. At 6am, with the monsoon humidity rising, he calls an end to the training session and orders his wrestlers to listen up. "You must all get your documents sorted out," he said, fighting to be heard over the hum of cicadas. "You can't compete in an international competition without a passport."

Mr Rao knows that getting a passport is no easy task for the boys. Most were born in poor villages in Delhi's neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and do not even have birth certificates. But his instructions reflect a new optimism in the Indian wrestling fraternity. Despite being one of India's oldest sports, with records of its existence dating back to 3000BC, wrestling has, in recent decades, lost out in terms of funding and popular support to such imported games as cricket and field hockey.

Now, however, the sport may be heading for a comeback after Sushil Kumar, the Indian wrestler, helped reverse India's losing streak at the Olympics by being one of only three athletes to return home with a medal. A second wrestler, Rajiv Tomar who trains at Mr Rao's akhara - the traditional name for a wrestling school - came fourth, narrowly missing out on a medal. "With the Olympic medal there is fresh focus on this sport," said G S Mander, president of the Wrestling Federation of India.

"There are thousands of boys already practising in akharas all over northern and western India. If the government invests properly we could win a huge amount of medals." But the training provided at traditional akharas, which focuses on teaching the art of mud wrestling, will not produce the international stars India needs. "Mud wrestling is good for building stamina but it does not provide you with the speed needed to win competitions on mats," Mr Rao said.

Wrestlers at the Guru Hanuman akhara study both, after its founder went on hunger strike in 1976 so the government would provide the school with a mat. With little in the way of funding and facilities and 50 men and boys to train, Mr Rao, a government recognised coach, uses a mixture of methods old and new. After a warm up session in the park, Mr Rao's students - known as pehlwans - return to the akhara where they live and train.

Some practise on the mats, while others pump iron using rusty dumbbells in the courtyard. To develop upper body strength, the pehlwans climb a thick rope slung from the upper branch of a banyan tree and hang 30 kilogram millstone - known as a suhagi - around their necks. Dressed only in langots - tightly wrapped loin cloths - the pehlwans also receive a workout from preparing the mud ring. Using a 20kg hoe, Kuldeep, 28, mixes powdered turmeric and mustard oil in to the earth to keep it moist and give it antiseptic properties.

Afterwards the area is levelled off using a fatta, a massive block of wood dragged through mud by ropes. "They provide an excellent workout for the shoulders and thighs," Mr Rao said. Funding is needed for accommodation too. The Guru Hanuman akhara survives on a mixture of sponsorship from the nearby Birla Mills and the winnings of its more successful wrestlers. Mr Rao has shared a tiny room with Mr Tomar for 18 years. Neither of them have a proper bed and the only luxury item in the room is a small television.

But the monastic arrangements are what makes a good wrestler, Mr Tomar said. " I could have brought a flat with my winnings but I would not have been able to discipline myself." The pehlwans are expected to live like Hindu saints and cannot drink or smoke while attending the school. All pehlwans must also remain chaste and follow a purely vegetarian diet. To supplement their diet they drink a protein-rich drink made from crushed almonds and water and cook their food in high-calorie ghee.

Those in the higher weight categories - such as Mr Tomar, who weighs 120kg - have to drink up to six litres of milk a day. "They should follow in the footsteps of the warrior Hanuman and draw inspiration from him," said Mr Rao, whose has a small shrine to the monkey god in his room, as well as a larger next to the wrestling ring. The students, however, seem to have no problem with the strict rules and embrace the routine and family-like atmosphere it engenders.

Older and younger students alike touch Mr Rao's feet as a mark of respect as they enter the training hall and everyone laughs when he teases them about their inability to put on weight or grow another inch. Back from the glitz of the Beijing Olympics, Mr Tomar, too, shows no sign of disappointment at being back in humble surroundings. "It was great to represent my country," he said "Now we are focused on London in 2012."

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