India bans ancient sandpit sport

01-14-2003, 04:36 AM

Ananova:

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