Women’s wrestling

Women’s wrestling is slowly unburdening itself from the shackles of the past and is now shining in Dakshina Kannada.

 

It's a Friday evening, and college students Arpitha, Nidhi, Tejaswini and Shaurya are busy doing somersaults and rolls on the mat at Dr P Dayananda Pai Sathish Pai Government First Grade College on Car Street at Mangaluru. The four are part of a bunch of 50-odd women wrestlers of Dakshina Kannada district, who have earned a name in local tournaments.

Women’s wrestling started in this part of the state about 10 years back, over four decades after men took up the sport, and wrestling schools, known as vyayama shalas, emerged in localities like Car Street, Bengre, Bokkapatna and Surathkal. The sport picked up in coastal villages as the fishermen community, known for their stamina and strength, found it an attractive vocation.

Though there are 22 vyayama shalas in Mangaluru and Dakshina Kannada,  only about half of them areactive. The traditional centres, where Lord Anjaneya is worshipped as the supreme wrestler, still don't entertain women’s participation. Things, however, are showing signs of change, and wrestling academies for women are coming up too.

At a recent tournament organised by Veera Bharathi Vyayama Shala at Bengre, four academies fielded their wrestlers, and the women’s matches turned out to be equal crowd-pullers as local elders and achievers entered the arena to bless the girls before the bout. The popularity of wrestling among girls is steadily growing in Dakshina Kannada, says coach Sandeep S Rao.

According to Raguveer, another coach at the event, women wrestlers gain an added advantage from kabaddi – a popular sport played by boys and girls in Dakshina Kannada. “Kabaddi is a grappling game and the techniques learnt by the girls there help them in wrestling too,” he adds.

However, wrestling, on the whole, enjoys little support from the government. “Most wrestlers come from middle class or underprivileged backgrounds, and funding their training as well as education is a challenge. I have had to go in search of financial aid to support a couple of girls in my academy so that they can continue their studies,” Rao recalls.

The wrestlers cite their own set of problems. “Lack of infrastructure is the main issue,” points out Tejaswini, a budding wrestler. “We don't have any place to train and there is no quota for wrestling at the sports hostel in Mangaluru. We practise at the college, and have to travel a long way back to reach home, where we may have to finish a lot of daily chores as well,” she adds.

As of now, they hone their skills in colleges like Sri Venkateshwara College at Karkala, St Agnes College, Dr P Dayananda Pai Sathish Pai Government First Grade College on  Car Street and Alva's College, Moodbidri, where women’s wrestling gets a lot of support from the institution.  

“We need proper training facility. Currently, the only reason women’s wrestling is flourishing is because special interest is taken by our coaches,” says Arpitha.

Lack of enough tournaments is another issue. "Only a couple of tournaments are held in the locality," says Shaurya, talking about how combats are mostly restricted to the training mat.

Rao also feels that local politicians should take interest in the sport and provide support. “There is immense potential among our girls, and parents support their wrestling as well. If we can get adequate infrastructure, our girls will go places," he asserts.

A victory that created interest

After women’s wrestling started in Belagavi, girls from Dakshina Kannada won the state-level PUC Wrestling championship in 2009. “Dakshina Kannada won the championship a year after the tournament was launched and we continue to win the title till date,” points out Rao.

Taboos persist

Even though girls are proving their mettle in wrestling, people continue to hold the belief that they will defile the arena during the days of menstruation. The idol of Lord Anjaneya, which finds place in vyayama shalas, is usually not installed in rings where girls practise. The girls are given off during the first two days of their period, after which they do light exercises away from the mat for the next couple of days, finally returning to the mat after the fifth day.

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