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Virender Singh greeted by fans at Indira Gandhi International airport, New Delhi, on his return from Sofia, Bulgaria.
Grappling with a disability that forever pits one in a different pool to the rest of the able-bodied peers you share your life with, can be quite an exacting journey. While some allow the handicap to take a strangle hold on their lives and bog them down, some others manage to get a grip on it, to the extent that their disability is almost banished to the shadows.
‘Goonga Pehelwan’ Virender Singh recently returned home from Sofia, Bulgaria to a hero’s reception at Indira Gandhi National airport in New Delhi. The reason for all the fanfare was a gold medal that Virender won at the recently-concluded 2013 World Deaflympics in Bulgaria in the 74-kg freestyle event.
The traditional kushti is quite a popular sport across India, with pehelwans training in dusty maidans for hours. Wrestling is a sport India generally does well in, even at the summer Olympics.
The story of Virender though is not that of a regular wrestler. Virender is mute and deaf; he cannot hear people chanting his name, singing his praises. Neither can he acknowledge all that he receives through word of mouth. He merely gestures with a big broad smile that gives his physique competition in size.
Virender was of course only repeating something that he had already done in the past. This wasn’t his maiden triumph, far from it. It was merely the latest addition in a cupboard that was already filled with a rich medal haul.
At the 2005 Deaflympics in Melbourne, Virender won gold in the very same category. Incidentally, that medal was India’s first ever medal at the international Deaflympics, let alone gold. Four years later in Taipei, Virender embarked on a momentous journey to defend his gold from Melbourne. He ended the tournament with the bronze.
But come 2013, that precious gold is back around Virender’s neck. Four years of daily hard-work brought its rich and rewarding fruit. The international Deaflympics apart, Virender also has a silver medal from the 2008 World Deaf Championships and a bronze medal from the 2012 Championships.
Virender is now 28-years-old. His love affair with the dirt of the kushti maidans began at a very young age, while watching his father wrestle at the nearby akhada. Inspired by his father Ajit Singh, Virender took the dusty road to the sport.
Since 2002, from when he was about 18, he has been participating in wrestling events, both domestic and international level as well as in the local dangas (fights). But despite many notable achievements in his field, Virender failed to get the backing of the government as well as sports authorities.
The wrestler’s career then took off in 2011, when his father decided to take him to Delhi to the Chhatrasal stadium, where he was introduced to wrestling coach Ramphal Mann, winner of the Dronacharya award in 2011.
Mann, who has also coached Olympian Sushil Kumar, helped Virender improve his game and was instrumental in the wrestler’s winning campaign this year. Mann is full of praise for Virender, stating that he is one of the most disciplined and focussed wrestlers that he’s ever come across. He also believes that the ever-smiling champion is much more intelligent than your average wrestler.
Comparisons have been drawn between Virender and India’s multiple-Olympic medal winning wrestler Sushil Kumar, who has always been up-to-date on news surrounding Virender, as they have known each other from their time together at Chhatrasal stadium’s akhada.
Sushil believes that Virender is an excellent wrestler, and someone who is even better in the traditional kushti format. And as far as his ambitions to represent India at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio go, Sushil feels that it will be a big challenge, but one his friend is capable of overcoming.
Till date, Virender has not been allowed to participate in the Summer Olympics by the sport’s administrators in India as they fear he would not be able to hear the referee’s whistle. Virender has maintained that it is a non-issue.
Virender knows he is more than capable of responding to the referees by maintaining constant eye-contact. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) allows deaf wrestlers to compete at the Olympics, thereby facing no restrictions.
When he is not wrestling, Virender works as a clerk with the Haryana Power Corporation. While that is his day job, he ends up earning more from dangals (fights). Virender does between 20-25 dangals a year and earns anything between ?5,000 and ?1,00,000 per fight.
Virender’s story has invaded the public space over the last two years, with BBC Hindi getting in touch with the wrestler for an interview. There is also a documentary titled ‘Goonga Pehelwan’, produced by a filmmaker Vivek Choudhary, in the works.
The wrestler and his exploits may not have made the headlines previously, but that is the least of Virender’s concerns. All he is worried about quality support from India’s administrative officials in furthering his career, as he quietly goes about wrestling in international competitions while improving his trade all the time.
As they say, silence can speak a thousand words; which is especially true in the case of Virender Singh, the Goonga Pahelwan.
For him, silence is golden!
Watch our video on Virender Singh below:
