Monday, January 30, 2005. The sun was just about to set over the Arabian Sea. The Andheri Sports Complex was packed with fans of wrestling.
Hundreds of eyes were fixed on the mud pit where a breathtaking contest was on between a girl and a boy, both 14.
The girl was unstoppable, fighting round after round to prove that was just as strong and skilled. Salman Khan sat quietly, watching the fight from the officials’ gallery. The 25-minute long match ended with a tie-breaker and she lost. But the crowd gave her a standing ovation.
This is the true story of Kaushalya Wagh, the national wrestling champion from Maharashtra, who fought with Babloo Yadav.
“Today when I was watching Sultan , I felt proud and nostalgic, as I could relate to many things with my journey,” Ms. Wagh told The Hindu over phone.
“The memories of that event are still etched in my mind even after a decade,” she said, recalling her meeting with Salman Khan.
“He was very kind and inspiring. He admired my physical tenacity at that age and encouraged me, asking me to be disciplined and brave,” she recalls.
Hailing from a family of wrestlers from Karad in Satara district of Maharashtra, Kaushalya never looked back after that match. A year later, she made the country proud by winning a silver medal in the 2006 Asian Games.
In all she has won six gold medals in Sub-Junior National Championship, a bronze at the 2015 National Games in Kerala, and two bronze and one silver in the senior category.
Kaushalya recalled, her voice choking with emotion, “My elder brother Vikas dreamt of becoming a professional wrestler. He was my role model. But he chose to work as a loader at the Vashi APMC market only to support my dream.”
With two of Bollywood’s biggest stars featuring in films set in akharas, or mud pits, the spotlight is going to shine on wrestling for a while.
But whether they will help the traditional sport regain its lost sheen — that remains to be seen.
