*Rana lauds youth for evincing keen interest in wrestling
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 17: Wrestler Chouta Gani of Hoshiarpur in Punjab lifted 95th Jhajjar Kotli Kesari Dangal 2023 title by defeating wrestler Sandeep of Punjab Police Jallandar in a very tough bout that lasted for 9 minutes at Jhajjar Kotli today.
Winner of 1st main bout wrestler Chouta Gani was awarded with a cash prize of Rs 71,000 along with “Patta”, while runner-up wrestler Sandeep was given a cash prize of Rs 50,000.
In the second main bout, Benia Min of J&K Police and a resident of Basantgarh in Udhampur district defeated wrestler Nassinder of Haryana. Winner Benia was awarded a cash prize of Rs 60,000 while runner-up wrestler Nassinder got Rs 40,000.
The winner of third bout was wrestler Nissar of J&K Police of Doda who defeated wrestler Sahil of Punjab while 4th bout was won by Rashid of Domana Akhara (Jammu) who defeated wrestler Nadeem of Doda and in 5th bout, wrestler Muneeer of Nagrota defeated wrestler Manjit of Delhi.
Senior BJP leader Devender Singh Rana along with Kisan Morcha BJP J&K Prabhari Nand Kishore Sharma graced the occasion while Shiv Kumar Sharma (president, J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association and former Joint Secretary, J&K State Sports Council) presided over the function.
Speaking at the prize giving ceremony, Devender Rana expressed satisfaction over rural sports gaining momentum and urged the youth to take up sports alongside academics, not only for their physical growth but also brightening their career prospectus. He said the talented ones have a lot many opportunities and therefore they should concentrate on their chosen sports with the avowed objective of achieving excellence.
“No doubt popular sports like cricket, soccer and hockey have overtaken other traditional games but wrestling is making a comeback at the national and international levels”, he said adding that the Commonwealth Games have time and again acknowledged the relevance of wrestling as a premier sport and due impetus is given to its promotion. He urged the youth to come forward and show their talent on a bigger canvas.
Rana exuded confidence that various tourneys, especially in the segment of wrestling, will provide an opportunity to the budding wrestlers to benefit from veterans and emulate various techniques, which will sharpen their talent.
The Dangal was organized by Jhajjar Kotli Kesari Dangal Committee in association with J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association under the overall supervision of Durga Dass Thappa and Om Parkash Dubey. Total 37 bouts were played and an expenditure of Rs 5 lakh was incurred for conduct of this one-day-long wrestling event (Dangal).
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