Khelo India 2022: We belong to farmers’ family...Mehnat aur zindagi: Wrestling embedded in Haryana’s lifestyle

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Wrestling is part of daily life in Haryana. People work hard work from dawn to sunset. And that prepares them for wrestling mat.

It doesn’t matter whether they undergo training for wrestling. They will still shine because their lifestyle teaches them to sweat it out. This is the reason that the state always brings its opposition to their knees on the mat. Wrestling is not just a sport in Haryana, it is embedded in lifestyle of youths there, specially the farming population. Waking up at 4 am, working out in the sand and throwing heavy things here and there is nothing new to them. Most wrestlers who participated in KIYG 2022 are from farmers’ families.

Haryana wrestlers dominated the game at Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) 2022 played in Madhya Pradesh. Haryana won more than 41 medals in wrestling. Haryana wrestler Nishant, 18, a KIYG bronze medallist, said, "Training or no training, we wake up at 4 am everyday. We belong to farmers’ family. We do more hard work off the mat and it shows in our performance."

Farmer’s son and gold medallist Ashish Mor said, "Only people who have seen bad days in life are desperate to do better. Because we have seen lows, we know importance of medal."

There are many like them in Haryana team who are defeating opponents on the mat and winning medals for the state. When you ask them, "What’s different in Haryana’s water? Their reply is, "Mehnat aur zindagi" (hard work and life).  

Published on: Sunday, February 12, 2023, 12:39 AM IST