Gwalior Arm-Wrestling Team gave a sterling performance at the 44th National Arm Wrestling Championship held at the Gachibowli Sports Complex Stadium in Hyderabad from May 31 to June 06, to bag 25 medals. The team has broken a 44 year old record. More than 900 players from 25 states had participated in this competition.
Speaking to media persons during the felicitation meeting for the team, Gwalior Arm Wrestling Federation President, Keshav Pandey said that it is a matter of great pride that Madhya Pradesh bagged the overall second position behind Kerala in the championship and that the major contributors to this success are the players from Gwalior. Pandey added that this performance is the result of the consistent efforts of the coaches and players at the Arm Wrestling Academy in Gwalior. He said that this academy is the country’s first full-fledged academy for arm wrestling.
Giving details about the winners, Pandey said that Vikram awardee, Manish Kumar; world silver medalist, Aravind Rajak; Niranjan Gurjar; Rajendra Mahore; Sachin Goyal; Sujith Mahore; Umesh Pal; Yogendra Yadav; Puja Bhadouria; Ayush Kaushal and Shivam Gurjar won gold medals; He added that some of them had also won silver and bronze medals.
Bollywood actress, model and director of the Pro Punja League, Preeti Jhangiani, was specially present to welcome back the team.
A special meeting was also convened to reconstitute the Gwalior Arm Wrestling Federation. Dr Keshav Pandey has been reelected as the President of the association while Deepak Tomar has been elected, the General Secretary. Manoj Agarwal was elected the Treasurer while Ashish Rathore became the joint General Secretary and Dr Nitin Baradwaj, the Senior Vice- President.
Madhya Pradesh Arm Wrestling Federation Secretary, Tariq Mohammad; social activist, Rajendra Mudugal; Sunil Chaurasia; Harendra Nigam and Dr Sarita Amulani were among those who felicitated the team.