For the last two years now, Jaskanwar Gill has been trying to make a name for himself through mat wrestling at the national level. But not only has he failed, it has brought down participation in the mud dangals where he is supremely popular and known as Jassa Patti.
So when Jassa came to know about the inaugural traditional wrestling national championships, he did not think twice before deciding to be on team Chandigarh. The undisputed champion of mud wrestling in India now has a chance to get an official stamp on that title.
Among travelling wrestlers, Jassa was the first to reach Pune which will host the first edition of tournament beginning Saturday. The competition will have six weight categories – 57kg, 65kg, 74kg, 86kg, 97kg and 125kg – and the medal winners will receive Rs 75000 for gold, Rs 50000 for silver and Rs 25000 each to the two bronze medal winners. No Bullet motorbikes.
While Jassa may think that he will have a better chance of becoming a national champion now that the surface is of his liking, he still has to deal with most of the mat or freestyle wrestling rules.
The Wrestling Federation of India has named it the “traditional wrestling national championships” but there is little tradition in the Pune tournament.
The colourful commentary, a constant affair at any dangal, will be missed. As far as rules go, a wrestler is not allowed to hold his opponent’s langot (lioncloth), the bouts will be fought over two periods of four minute each.
While the winner of a bout in a dangal is decided only by pinfall, the Nationals will follow point system life the freestyle and the the technical superiority will be a difference of 15 points.
“We are not organising a dangal. It is a tournament which has some part of dangals but still freestyle wrestling,” Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary of WFI, said. “We changed some rules like you cannot hold your opponent’s loincloth because that gives undue advantage to one wrestler when he is trying to compete a move.”
Even Jonny Chaudhary, a five-time national medallist and into his 18th year as a national level wrestler, says that the tournament is not even close to a dangal. “It has similar rules to freestyle wrestling. The mat has been replaced with mud and that is all. You still have to fight the bout on points.”
But no one seems to be too concerned by the changes.
“It’s same for everyone. I’ll be happy if I win here because I have been trying hard to get good results on the mat but failed,” Jassa says.
Like Jassa, other wrestlers too are looking for more competition and some “points” which will help them win promotion in their respective jobs.
“It’s great to see that wrestlers who end up becoming just mud wrestlers can now compete at a tournament which is national. They will get some jobs and wrestling will be secure even if you are not going to mat and winning there,” Jonny, an Income Tax officer with the Himachal Pradesh Excise department, says.
Still, a lot of mat specialists have arrived in Pune. Vinod Kumar (SSCB), Naveen (Railways), Satyawart Kadian (Railways), Sumit Malik (Railways) and Sachin Rathi (SSCB) will all be wrestling over the weekend. Suraj Kokate and Sonba Gongaje will represent Maharashtra. But there are some notable names missing biggest of which is Mausam Khatri.
Punjab, a state with a rich history of producing top class wrestlers in mud, has not sent a strong team to Pune. This makes the title race interesting with Haryana expected to prove their worth but they will face tough competition from Railways whose squad is comprised of mainly national champions.
Jassa may not be one of them but he hopes that he can get a medal here which will not only help in promotion but also recognise his legend on mud.
“I am here for the competition and a medal here will be a great help in my promotion. Money is not even the factor to come to Pune. But I will get a competition against the best Indian wrestlers who I lost to on mat,” Jassa says.
The sub-inspector with Punjab Police, however, may end up facing the same wrestlers in Pune as well at the 125kg. Krishan Kumar will be his biggest rival and Jassa accepts that he isn’t the favourite of the category.
An accomplished wrestler on both mat and mud, Krishan Kumar attaches little importance to this tournament.
“I don’t need the money and I have a dangal on Sunday so I have to decide which one I want to attend. But it’s a good start and it will surely help the younger wrestlers,” he says.
The WFI is also hopeful that this style of wrestling will be extended to junior and cadet level.
“We are definitely making it a 10-weight competition next year. We will try to extend it to the junior and cadet level as well but it is still a work in progress so next year may not be a possibility,” Tomar said.
A lot, however, will depend on whether the Pune event serves the purpose of giving real benefits to wrestlers who compete primarily on mud.
