Sport

Vishwkarma Mahavir Gymnasium wrestling club: ‘Wrestling style in India and Georgia almost same’

For the Georgian coaches seeing Indian wrestlers train in the mud is similar to the training imparted in Georgian traditional form of wrestling Chidaoba.

Written by VICKY TAMANG | Chandigarh |Published on:April 26, 2017 8:49 am

Georgia, which has won 18 medals in the Olympics including three gold, has been producing world-class wrestlers in the last one decade. But for two Georgian coaches seeing Indian wrestlers train in the mud is similar to the training imparted in Georgian traditional form of wrestling Chidaoba.

The two coaches, Sergo Gigashvili (56) and Givi Bregvadze (25) will be based at Vishwkarma Mahavir Gymnasium Wrestling Club (VMGWC) club in Mullanpur Garibdas village for a year to train more than 50 wrestlers.

“Indian wrestlers are trained in mud which is similar what we do in Georgia. Indian wrestling has witnessed the rise of Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and Olympics Bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt. What Sushil is to India, our 2016 Olympics champion Vladimir Khinchegashvili is to Georgia. Wrestling involves not only physical techniques but a strong mentality. We won our first medal in 1996 Olympics. Indian wrestling was revived when Sushil when he won a medal in 2008 and now Indian wrestlers are doing well,” said Gigashvili. The duo will be training youngsters at the club for the first time. And in the last five years, the club has seen different coaches from Georgia training youngsters.

While Indian wrestlers often spend time in European countries for training, the presence of Georgian coaches at the club will ensure that youngsters get to learn European wrestling techniques from them. “Wrestling in Georgia and India is almost the same as kids wrestle in mud. It is only at the later stage that players get to play in the mat. Training wrestlers in Chandigarh won’t be any different for us as we will focus on their technique and endurance level. Greco Roman wrestling is not popular in India and youngsters need to start at a young age in this form of wrestling,” said Bregvadze.

For the trainees at the academy, it will be an opportunity to impress the Georgian coaches. “For the last five years, we have been training under Georgian coaches and Gollu Pehelwan and this helped us to understand Indian as well European style of wrestling. Although they face a language barrier, but we understand their signs and training methods,” said 17-year-old wrestler Kamaljeet Singh, who won the gold medal in Punjab Inter-School Championship recently.

VMGWC club co-founder Gollu Pehelwan, who has taken part in many dangals in the region, said, “I could not train on the mat and didn’t get the facilities which are a must to compete at the international level. But we want our village and Chandigarh wrestlers to avail and train on the mat and under foreign coaches. I hope this helps in finding talent for the 2024 Olympics.”