India bans ancient sandpit sport

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India bans ancient sandpit sport

 

India's wrestling authorities have banned the ancient sport of

sandpit wrestling in an attempt to help its wrestlers keep pace with

the rest of the world.

 

The popular spectator sport has been abolished so athletes will

train on mats according to world standards.

 

Rajender Gulia, executive secretary of the Wrestling Federation of

India said: "The decision to ban competitive sandpit wrestling is a

drastic step toward modernising the traditional sport."

 

He says the federation has communicated the decision to wrestling

schools, called "akharas", which are wedded to sandpits and

traditional training methods such as pulling ploughs.

 

Spreading the use of mats is essential if India wants to win more

international medals, Mr Gulia said. The country has won only one

Olympic medal in wrestling, a bronze collected by Khashba Jadhav in

1952.

 

Grappling in sandpits is popular with Indian crowds, who donate

money to the underfunded private wrestling schools. Experience in

the pits is a handicap when the wrestlers go to regular

competitions, where the action on mats is quicker.

 

Poor boys enrol at the wrestling schools before they turn 12. They

undergo rigorous training, but don't get to use modern sports

facilities.

 

When the pits become wet in the rain, it's hard to tell whether they

are engaging in sandpit wrestling, the pastime of ancient Indian

kings, or mud-wrestling.

 

The sport dates back to 3000 BC in India. Wrestlers are shown on

temple carvings and in antique miniature paintings.

 

Former Asian Games gold medalist Chandgi Ram, who runs an akhara on

the banks of the Jamuna River in New Delhi, said: "The transition to

grappling on mats isn't easy once you've got used to the sandpits,

but this ban will force coaches to change their outlook."

 

 

Story filed: 11:25 Tuesday 14th January 2003