: गुरु हनुमान) (1931–1999) was a legendary wrestling

Wrestling

Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

 coach of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 who coached many medal-winning wrestlers. He was awarded the prestigious Dronacharya Award

Dronacharya Award

Dronacharya Award is an award presented by the government of India for excellence in sports coaching. The award comprises a bronze statuette of Dronacharya, a scroll of honour and a cash component of Rs.500,000...

 in 1987, the highest recognition for a sports coach in India, and the Padma Shri

Padma Shri

Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...

 in 1983.

Early life

Guru was born as Vijay Pal on 15 March 1930, in Chirawa

Chirawa

Chirawa is a town in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan in India. It is part of Shekhawati region. It is known for fresco-painted havelis.-Geography:Chirawa is located at . It has an average elevation of...

 in Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

 state. He did not attend school, but began wrestling at the local village akhada

Akhada

akhada or akharha may refer to:*a school of Pehlwani * an organization of Hindu sects, see Akhara...

 from an early age. He moved to Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

 in 1954 to set up a shop near Birla Mills in Subzi Mundi, but instead became a wrestler and soon gained popularity in the field.

Career

The Indian industrialist K. K. Birla gave him land to set up Akhara

Akhara

In Hinduism, Akhara is an organization of the different sects of Sadhus Vairaghis yogis or Hindu Renunciates....

 at in Malkaganj, Subzi Mandi (Old Delhi

Old Delhi

Old Delhi , walled city of Delhi, India, was founded as Shahjahanabad by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in 1639. It remained the capital of the Mughals until the end of the Mughal dynasty....

), thus 'Birla Mills Vyayamshala' was born around 1955, which in time became the Guru Hanuman Akhara.

Both as a wrestler and as a coach, Guru Hanuman was a legend as he created a template for modern Indian wrestling, by mixing traditional Indian wrestling style, pehlwani

Pehlwani

Pehlwani or Pahlavani or Kushti is a Persian style of wrestling popular in Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. It was developed in the Mughal era through a synthesis of Indian malla-yuddha and Persian Varzesh-e Bastani....

with international wrestling standards. In time he coached almost all of India's freestyle

Freestyle wrestling

Freestyle wrestling is a style of amateur wrestling that is practised throughout the world. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic games. It is, along with track and field, one of the oldest organized sports in history...

 international wrestlers. Three of his disciples Sudesh Kumar, Prem Nath and Ved Prakash won gold medals at the Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

 Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....

 in 1972. Other notable disciples, Satpal and Kartar Singh won gold medals in Asian Games

Asian Games

The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organised by the...

 in 1982 and 1986 respectively. Eight of his disciples got the highest Indian sporting honour Arjuna award

Arjuna award

The Arjuna Awards were instituted in 1961 by the government of India to recognize outstanding achievement in National sports. The award carries a cash prize of 500,000, a bronze statuette of Arjuna and a scroll....

.

He was a bachelor and vegetarian. He died in a car crash on 24 May 1999, near Meerut, on his way to Haridwar

Haridwar

Haridwar is an important pilgrimage city and municipality in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India...

.

On August 9, 2003, a statue of Guru Hanuman was unveiled at the Kalyan Vihar Sports Stadium, in New Delhi,by former Delhi Chief Minister, Madan Lal Khurana

Madan Lal Khurana

Madan Lal Khurana is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Delhi. He has also served as the Governor of Rajasthan.-Early life:...

,

Guru Hanuman Akhara

This is a wrestlers training centre called akhara

Akhara

In Hinduism, Akhara is an organization of the different sects of Sadhus Vairaghis yogis or Hindu Renunciates....

 in traditional Hindi dialect. It was established in 1925 near Roshanara Park in north Delhi and it soon became the epicenter of Indian wrestling. Situated in the Old Delhi

Old Delhi

Old Delhi , walled city of Delhi, India, was founded as Shahjahanabad by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in 1639. It remained the capital of the Mughals until the end of the Mughal dynasty....

 region, this akhara is said to have produced some of the brightest Indian wrestlers.

The young wrestlers training there have an unshakeable belief that the land is blessed. So much that even when the government offered to provide a larger land with better training facilities, most of the wrestlers refused to shift out of the dilapidated buildings. However, due to lack of space, a modern gymnasium was built by the government at some distance from the akhara which is used by the trainees. The akhara is named after Guru Hanuman and currently trains about 200 wrestlers under the guidance of Maha Singh Rao

Maha Singh Rao

Maha Singh Rao is a wrestler and wrestling coach from Chirawa, Rajasthan in India. In 2006, he was awarded the Dronacharya Award, the highest award of the land in the field of coaching of sports and athletics, by the government of India....

.

External links

• Moses Of The Mats: Guru Hanuman Outlook
  Outlook (magazine)
  Outlook is one of India's four top-selling English weekly newsmagazines. Like many other Indian magazines, it is reluctant to reveal its circulation, but the 2007 National Readership Survey suggested 1.5 million copies...
  
  
• Guru Hanuman Akhara wikimapia
  Wikimapia
  WikiMapia is a privately owned, online map and satellite imaging resource that combines Google Maps with a wiki system, allowing users to add information, in the form of a note, to any location on Earth. Users may currently use this information for free...