Bholu Pahalwan
Encyclopedia
Bholu was one of the most popular wrestlers of 1950s. His name has been recorded in the annals of wrestling. Bholu originates from aGujjar
family of renowned wrestlers from Amritsar, Punjab. He lived in Amritsar till age 9. Then during one of his school holidays Bholu moved to Patiala to visit his father who was a serious wrestler. During the same year Bholu started his wrestling career in Radhanpur
under the guidance of Hamida Pahalwan
Rehmaniwala, real name Abdul Hamid Al Maroof Rehmani, who was an official wrestler of that state. In 1935, at age 13 Bholu made his first appearance in a wrestling contest at Lahore. He competed with wrestler known as Ahmad Baksh to a draw for a duration of twelve minutes. On Monday 27 March 1939 Bholu wrestles Ahmad Baksh for the 2nd time at in Lahore. The Judges were Sardar Abdus Samad City Magistrate and Inspector Gayani of Naulakha Police Station. From 1935 till 1940 Bholu succeeded against some of competent Indian Pahalwans like Mangal Singh, Kharak Singh, Bora Singh, Bulhar Pahalwan and Aleem Pahalwan of Baroda. During 1940, Bholu competed in the war fund wrestling competitions staged by the Government in every part of Subcontibent to boost up war funds. Bholu Pahalwan defeated a number of wrestlers including a local champion Ghousia Pahalwan twice in Lahore and for the 3rd time in Bahawalnagar
.
In 1944 Bholu defeated Puran Singh Amritsari in Ajain in a recorded time of 6 minutes. Later the same year he defeated another wrestler with the similar name known as Puran Singh Patialawala, in Ludhiana in 3 minutes. In 1945 Bholu beats a Sikh wrestler known as Darbar Singh in Kasur
in shortest duration of 1-minute.
In 1946 Bholu was scheduled to fight Jeuti Pahalwan in Kolhapur but on the day of the match Jeuti refused to fight and slipped away. Public turned furious and burnt the wrestling arena. The police resorted to firing in order to control the enraged spectators and the alleged wrestling contractor was jailed. But Hamida Pahalwan soon arranged a rematch between both wrestlers to compensate the public money. Bholu agreed to wrestle without payment and defeated Jeuti in this second event in Kolhapur on a final decision. Later in another contest in Kolhapur he defeated the top contender Shiv Govinda within 2 minutes. During the same year Bholu fought a series of wrestling bouts against the Champion of Kolhapur, Mulla Patarakia of Nipani
who had the reputation of previously beating highly talented men like Nizam, Ghulam Mohiuddin, Hussain Baksh Lahori and Allah baksh Pahalwan. Bholu surprisingly overpowered Mulla Patarakia in a wrestling event arranged by the Maharaja in front of a huge crowd. This contest was also witnessed by the Emperors of the neighboring states. Anyhow Patarakia refused to accept his defeat and demanded a rematch with Bholu in his hometown of Nipani. As a result of that a few days later Bholu fought Patarakia in Nipani and defeated him for the second time on a unanimous decision.
After the Indian Partition Bholu Pahalwan settled down in Pakistan. He formed the 'new age' Gama-Imam Tandem with his brother Aslam. During 1948, before winning the Pakistani Championship, Bholu trained from 02.00 hrs till 10.00 hrs and from 14.00 hrs till 19.00 hrs daily. His training routine consisted of around 5000 squats and 3500 pushup stretches including Santola and Zor on daily basis. For his conventional wrestling workouts Bholu also used Chakki, Lizam and Mugdar twice a week.
During the early days after the Indian partition Bholu fought Gujranwalia at the Minto Park in Lahore and won the match but later there was a rematch in Karachi. In April 1949, Bholu Pahalwan won the Rustam-i-Pakistan title by beating Younus Gujranwalia Pahalwan for the Pakistani wrestling Championship title in a recorded time of 8 minutes http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dpakistan%2Bwrestling%2Bimages%26ei%3DUTF-8%26qp_p%3Dpakistan%2Bwrestling%26imgsz%3Dall%26fr%3DFP-pull-web-t%26b%3D61&w=150&h=82&imgurl=www.pakistanihistory.com%2Fimages%2F49bholoo.JPG&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pakistanihistory.com%2F49.htm&size=6.3kB&name=49bholoo.JPG&p=pakistan+wrestling+images&type=jpeg&no=61&tt=79&oid=824884edab2c9f1a&ei=UTF-8].The Governor General of Pakistan Khawaja Nazimuddin
was the Chief Guest of this wrestling event. This was the most significant event in the Pakistan’s wrestling history. Bholu Pahalwan was declared the first legitimate Wrestling Champion of Pakistan.
Bholu seldom wrestled within the country after these matches. He compete with foreign wrestlers who were active in India during the early1950’s. In Jalandhar
and Bombay Bholu Pahalwan dominated some of the finest men in wrestling Including Emil Koroshenko, George Pencheff, Goldstein, George Zbisko, Zybisko-2 and Harbans Singh etc.
Bholu had two main Akhara
's (Wrestling’s dujo) within the country. The Bilal Gunj Akhara was located in Lahore. In 1948 Bholu formed another Akhara known as Dar-ul-Sehat at Pakistan Chowk in Karachi. The Dar-ul-Sehat also known as Bholu-ka-Akhara trained in Pakistani style wrestling under the supervision of professional wrestlers. It also provided the weight training and bobybuilding facilities to the members. The Bholu’s Akhara trained around 55000 members during the 60’s. Bholu gave special attention to this institution. He personally trained the members that included 60 to 70 serious wrestlers. In 1953 Bholu challenges the World Champion, Lou Thesz in order to win the world championship. He even asks the Government through Pakistani Prime minister Muhammad Ali Bogra to arrange a match between him and the reigning world champion. Bholu even offered a sum of 0.1 Million to the world champion for a match with him. But the match between Bholu Pahalwan and Lou Thesz never took place for some unknown reason. He later attempted to confront the World Champion Indian wrestler Dara Singh but Singh was to a great extent billed to fight elsewhere in America and could not afford time. During the early 1960s Bholu challenge the wrestlers worldwide through publications in different newspapers. He remained matchless because the average wrestler seemed reluctant to compete against him. Bholu received the 1962 Pride of Performance Award.
He was granted a 20-kanal land by the President Ayub Khan in honour of services rendered to the sport of wrestling in Pakistan. Bholu performed Hajj in 1963. Finally in 1964 the Pakistan Wrestling Association declared him Rustam-e-Zaman, The Pakistani World Champion. They imposed a condition on him that Bholu should wrestle abroad and must win a world title in order to sustain his Pakistani World Title of Rustam-e-Zaman. Since most wrestlers were reluctant to fight him due to unknown reason. Therefore in 1967 Bholu offered a sum of 5000 pounds through promoter Orig Williams
of the United Kingdom to anyone who could beat him. And Finally in May 1967, Bholu Pahalwan competed in a world championship event sponsored by the Eastern Promotions Limited in UK and defeated the Anglo-French heavyweight Champion, Henry Perry for the World Heavyweight Title in Empire Pool, Wembley Stadium, London, England. Later after winning the world championships from abroad, his status as Rustam-e-Zaman, The Pakistani World Champion was officially confirmed in his own country on September 1967 by the Pakistan Wrestling Association in a ceremony held in Karachi and presided by Home Minister, Kazi Fazlullah. http://web.archive.org/web/20091026235502/http://geocities.com/goodfaith747/rustam_e_zaman/.
Haji Manzoor Hussain a.k.a Bholu Pahalwan died on 6 March 1985, in Pakistan. His son Nasir Bholu
is also a wrestler.
Gujjar
The Gurjar are an ethnic group in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Alternative spellings include Gurjara, Gujar, Gurjjara and Gūrjara. The spelling Gurjara or Gurjar is preferable to the rest....
family of renowned wrestlers from Amritsar, Punjab. He lived in Amritsar till age 9. Then during one of his school holidays Bholu moved to Patiala to visit his father who was a serious wrestler. During the same year Bholu started his wrestling career in Radhanpur
Radhanpur
Radhanpur is a city and a municipality in Patan district in the Indian state of Gujarat.-Origin of name:According to the tradition, the city is named after Radhan Khan, a descendant of Fateh Khan Baloch...
under the guidance of Hamida Pahalwan
Hamida Pahalwan
Hamida Pahalwan was an Indian wrestler in Radhanpur during the 1930s. He worked as an official wrestler for the Nawab Jalaluddin of Radhanpur. He is the former Rustam-i-Hind and one of the elite champions of the British India. Hamida Pahalwan was the maternal uncle of the Bholu Brothers of...
Rehmaniwala, real name Abdul Hamid Al Maroof Rehmani, who was an official wrestler of that state. In 1935, at age 13 Bholu made his first appearance in a wrestling contest at Lahore. He competed with wrestler known as Ahmad Baksh to a draw for a duration of twelve minutes. On Monday 27 March 1939 Bholu wrestles Ahmad Baksh for the 2nd time at in Lahore. The Judges were Sardar Abdus Samad City Magistrate and Inspector Gayani of Naulakha Police Station. From 1935 till 1940 Bholu succeeded against some of competent Indian Pahalwans like Mangal Singh, Kharak Singh, Bora Singh, Bulhar Pahalwan and Aleem Pahalwan of Baroda. During 1940, Bholu competed in the war fund wrestling competitions staged by the Government in every part of Subcontibent to boost up war funds. Bholu Pahalwan defeated a number of wrestlers including a local champion Ghousia Pahalwan twice in Lahore and for the 3rd time in Bahawalnagar
Bahawalnagar
Bahawalnagar is the capital city of Bahawalnagar District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. As well as being district capital it also the administrative headquarters of the tehsil.-Administration:...
.
In 1944 Bholu defeated Puran Singh Amritsari in Ajain in a recorded time of 6 minutes. Later the same year he defeated another wrestler with the similar name known as Puran Singh Patialawala, in Ludhiana in 3 minutes. In 1945 Bholu beats a Sikh wrestler known as Darbar Singh in Kasur
Kasur
Kasur , the capital of Kasur District in Pakistan. Kasur is located adjacent to the border of Ganda Singh Wala between Pakistan and India, and is a tourist attraction because of the daily occurring Flags lowering ceremony...
in shortest duration of 1-minute.
In 1946 Bholu was scheduled to fight Jeuti Pahalwan in Kolhapur but on the day of the match Jeuti refused to fight and slipped away. Public turned furious and burnt the wrestling arena. The police resorted to firing in order to control the enraged spectators and the alleged wrestling contractor was jailed. But Hamida Pahalwan soon arranged a rematch between both wrestlers to compensate the public money. Bholu agreed to wrestle without payment and defeated Jeuti in this second event in Kolhapur on a final decision. Later in another contest in Kolhapur he defeated the top contender Shiv Govinda within 2 minutes. During the same year Bholu fought a series of wrestling bouts against the Champion of Kolhapur, Mulla Patarakia of Nipani
Nipani
Nipani is a town and a city municipal council in Belgaum district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Nippani is the largest urban center in Chikkodi Taluka of Belgaum District...
who had the reputation of previously beating highly talented men like Nizam, Ghulam Mohiuddin, Hussain Baksh Lahori and Allah baksh Pahalwan. Bholu surprisingly overpowered Mulla Patarakia in a wrestling event arranged by the Maharaja in front of a huge crowd. This contest was also witnessed by the Emperors of the neighboring states. Anyhow Patarakia refused to accept his defeat and demanded a rematch with Bholu in his hometown of Nipani. As a result of that a few days later Bholu fought Patarakia in Nipani and defeated him for the second time on a unanimous decision.
After the Indian Partition Bholu Pahalwan settled down in Pakistan. He formed the 'new age' Gama-Imam Tandem with his brother Aslam. During 1948, before winning the Pakistani Championship, Bholu trained from 02.00 hrs till 10.00 hrs and from 14.00 hrs till 19.00 hrs daily. His training routine consisted of around 5000 squats and 3500 pushup stretches including Santola and Zor on daily basis. For his conventional wrestling workouts Bholu also used Chakki, Lizam and Mugdar twice a week.
During the early days after the Indian partition Bholu fought Gujranwalia at the Minto Park in Lahore and won the match but later there was a rematch in Karachi. In April 1949, Bholu Pahalwan won the Rustam-i-Pakistan title by beating Younus Gujranwalia Pahalwan for the Pakistani wrestling Championship title in a recorded time of 8 minutes http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dpakistan%2Bwrestling%2Bimages%26ei%3DUTF-8%26qp_p%3Dpakistan%2Bwrestling%26imgsz%3Dall%26fr%3DFP-pull-web-t%26b%3D61&w=150&h=82&imgurl=www.pakistanihistory.com%2Fimages%2F49bholoo.JPG&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pakistanihistory.com%2F49.htm&size=6.3kB&name=49bholoo.JPG&p=pakistan+wrestling+images&type=jpeg&no=61&tt=79&oid=824884edab2c9f1a&ei=UTF-8].The Governor General of Pakistan Khawaja Nazimuddin
![http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dpakistan%2Bwrestling%2Bimages%26ei%3DUTF-8%26qp_p%3Dpakistan%2Bwrestling%26imgsz%3Dall%26fr%3DFP-pull-web-t%26b%3D61&w=150&h=82&imgurl=www.pakistanihistory.com%2Fimages%2F49bholoo.JPG&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pakistanihistory.com%2F49.htm&size=6.3kB&name=49bholoo.JPG&p=pakistan+wrestling+images&type=jpeg&no=61&tt=79&oid=824884edab2c9f1a&ei=UTF-8].](http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dpakistan%2Bwrestling%2Bimages%26ei%3DUTF-8%26qp_p%3Dpakistan%2Bwrestling%26imgsz%3Dall%26fr%3DFP-pull-web-t%26b%3D61&w=150&h=82&imgurl=www.pakistanihistory.com%2Fimages%2F49bholoo.JPG&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pakistanihistory.com%2F49.htm&size=6.3kB&name=49bholoo.JPG&p=pakistan+wrestling+images&type=jpeg&no=61&tt=79&oid=824884edab2c9f1a&ei=UTF-8].){kind=link}
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Hajji Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin, KCIE , was the second Governor-General of Pakistan, and later the second Prime Minister of Pakistan as well.-Early life:...
was the Chief Guest of this wrestling event. This was the most significant event in the Pakistan’s wrestling history. Bholu Pahalwan was declared the first legitimate Wrestling Champion of Pakistan.
Bholu seldom wrestled within the country after these matches. He compete with foreign wrestlers who were active in India during the early1950’s. In Jalandhar
Jalandhar
Jalandhar is a city in Jalandhar District in the state of Punjab, India. It is located 144 km northwest of the state capital, Chandigarh...
and Bombay Bholu Pahalwan dominated some of the finest men in wrestling Including Emil Koroshenko, George Pencheff, Goldstein, George Zbisko, Zybisko-2 and Harbans Singh etc.
Bholu had two main Akhara
Akhara
In Hinduism, Akhara is an organization of the different sects of Sadhus Vairaghis yogis or Hindu Renunciates....
's (Wrestling’s dujo) within the country. The Bilal Gunj Akhara was located in Lahore. In 1948 Bholu formed another Akhara known as Dar-ul-Sehat at Pakistan Chowk in Karachi. The Dar-ul-Sehat also known as Bholu-ka-Akhara trained in Pakistani style wrestling under the supervision of professional wrestlers. It also provided the weight training and bobybuilding facilities to the members. The Bholu’s Akhara trained around 55000 members during the 60’s. Bholu gave special attention to this institution. He personally trained the members that included 60 to 70 serious wrestlers. In 1953 Bholu challenges the World Champion, Lou Thesz in order to win the world championship. He even asks the Government through Pakistani Prime minister Muhammad Ali Bogra to arrange a match between him and the reigning world champion. Bholu even offered a sum of 0.1 Million to the world champion for a match with him. But the match between Bholu Pahalwan and Lou Thesz never took place for some unknown reason. He later attempted to confront the World Champion Indian wrestler Dara Singh but Singh was to a great extent billed to fight elsewhere in America and could not afford time. During the early 1960s Bholu challenge the wrestlers worldwide through publications in different newspapers. He remained matchless because the average wrestler seemed reluctant to compete against him. Bholu received the 1962 Pride of Performance Award.
He was granted a 20-kanal land by the President Ayub Khan in honour of services rendered to the sport of wrestling in Pakistan. Bholu performed Hajj in 1963. Finally in 1964 the Pakistan Wrestling Association declared him Rustam-e-Zaman, The Pakistani World Champion. They imposed a condition on him that Bholu should wrestle abroad and must win a world title in order to sustain his Pakistani World Title of Rustam-e-Zaman. Since most wrestlers were reluctant to fight him due to unknown reason. Therefore in 1967 Bholu offered a sum of 5000 pounds through promoter Orig Williams
Orig Williams
Orig Williams was a Welsh professional wrestler and wrestling promoter. Williams spent his wrestling career in the persona of a villainous heel under the pseudonym "El Bandito", and after retiring as a fighter he became a promoter, manager and television presenter...
of the United Kingdom to anyone who could beat him. And Finally in May 1967, Bholu Pahalwan competed in a world championship event sponsored by the Eastern Promotions Limited in UK and defeated the Anglo-French heavyweight Champion, Henry Perry for the World Heavyweight Title in Empire Pool, Wembley Stadium, London, England. Later after winning the world championships from abroad, his status as Rustam-e-Zaman, The Pakistani World Champion was officially confirmed in his own country on September 1967 by the Pakistan Wrestling Association in a ceremony held in Karachi and presided by Home Minister, Kazi Fazlullah. http://web.archive.org/web/20091026235502/http://geocities.com/goodfaith747/rustam_e_zaman/.
Haji Manzoor Hussain a.k.a Bholu Pahalwan died on 6 March 1985, in Pakistan. His son Nasir Bholu
Nasir Bholu
Nasir Bholu , is a retired Pakistani professional wrestler and the last surviving member of the "Bholu Brothers" wrestling team. He belongs to the Gama Wrestling family. Nasir Bholu was a wrestler during the 1980’s. He debuted in wrestling by defeating Yasir Ali of U.A.E. in November 1979...
is also a wrestler.