Guru Hanuman Akhada shows a very old traditional way of wrestling. Wrestling took place in mud which was a method prevalent from Mahabharata time. This akhada gave 16 ARJUNA AWARDEE, 3 PADMA SHRI AWARDEE, 7 DRONACHARYA AWARDEE, 1 PADMABHUSHAN AWARDEE.
Guru Hanuman was a legendary wrestling coach of India who coached many medal winning wrestlers. He was born on 15 march 1901 in Chirawa and died on May 24 1999 in Meerut. He was awarded the prestigious DRONACHARYA AWARD IN 1988, the highest recognition for a sports coach in India, and the PADMA SHRI in 1983. The Indian industrialist K.K.Birla gave him land to set up akhada in Malkaganj, Subzi Mandi. Both as a wrestler and as a coach, guru Hanuman was a legend as he created a template for modern Indian wrestling style, pehalwani with international wrestling standards. In time he coached almost all of India’s freestyle international wrestlers. Three of his disciples SUDESH KUMAR, PREM NATH and VED PRAKASH won gold medals at CAEDIFF COMMONWEALTH GAMES IN1972. Other notable disciples, SATPAL and KARTAR SINGH ASIAN GAMES IN 1982 and 1986. Eight of his disciples got the highest Indian sporting honor ARJUNA AWARD.
Around 125 wrestlers were trained here. About 65 wrestlers live in akhada only. Coach of SUSHIL KUMAR (who is gold medalist in commonwealth games of 2010) SATPAL JI was trained here. There are very less facilities for the wrestlers. The akhada was situated in a very compact place so there was low space in the akhada. The wrestlers were very hard working and their coach MAHA SINGH RAO is a DRONACHARYA AWARDEE.
There are wrestlers from every age group. The youngest wrestler here is ABHISHEK TOMAR. He is 9 years old. He lives in Shakti Nagar near the akhada. He was studying in 6th class. Another boy, Vijay who was 13 years old was here from last 2 months. Studying was always a challenge for these young boys. He is a student of 7th class.
This akhada shows wrestlers of international level.
RASHTIRYA KHEL PROTSAHAN PURUSKAR was given to this akhada in 2014. Guru Hanuman akhada was the first akhada to get this award. This was the highest award in the field of sports. All the services were free here. People came here from different villages like Jamuna Vihar, Bawana, Dariyapur. This akhada is maintained by Birla group. The full name of this akhada is GURU HANUMAN BIRLA VYAYAM SHALA.
