Sudhir Saha

Sudhir Saha before leaving for the 1964 Olympic Games.

Sudhir Saha (1918–1998) was a wrestler, coach and wrestling administrator in India. He introduced Greco-Roman wrestling in India.[1]

Sudhir Saha was the youngest son of Nandalal Saha and started wrestling at the age of six. Sudhir Saha was trained by his father Nandalal Saha, and subsequently by Ustad (meaning 'expert' in Hindi, a title commonly given to coaches) Majid Palwan from Lahore. Sudhir won the West Bengal State Wrestling Championship from the year 1935-1944 in the freestyle wrestling category. In the 1940 Senior National Wrestling Championship, Sudhir placed first in the middleweight category. After his wrestling career, Sudhir devoted his time to coaching and judge/refereeing.[1]

During his early coaching career, K.P. Rai and Nirmal Bose, from Panchanan Bayam Samity, one of India's oldest wrestling club, represented India in the 1948 London Olympics. Four years later, the 1952 Helsinki Olympic training camp was held at Panchanan Bayam Samity. Two of Sudhir's trainees, Nirmal Bose and Niranjan Das, from Panchanan Bayam Samity represented India in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.[2] One of Sudhir's trainees, K.D. Jadhav, won the bronze medal in the Bantam weight Category in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.[1] This was independent India's first individual Olympic medal.

In 1957, Sudhir Saha attended the first Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées (FILA) Judge/Referee clinic for technical officials in Paris, with the aim of officials coming together to discuss theory and practicals on wrestling techniques and minute details of officiating. This is where he obtained his international judge/referee license.[1] In 1961, Sudhir Saha completed his International Coaching degree from Japan. He was also the Joint Secretary and Vice President of Wrestling Federation of India; General Secretary, West Bengal Wrestling Federation; and he was responsible for technical positions such as Mat Chairman, Member of the Selection Committee, Chairman of the Greco-Roman Style in India,[3] and the Judge/Referee Association of India. He started his refereeing career in 1953, supervising more than 1500 wrestling bouts.[1] In the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, Sudhir represented India as a wrestling judge/referee.[1]

Greco-Roman Style Wrestling in India

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Under his supervision, the first Greco-Roman style wrestling competition was held in Calcutta at Panchanan Bayam Samity, one of India's oldest wrestling club. In 1965, at his initiative, Greco-Roman wrestling style was introduced in National Championship by the All India Wrestling Federation.[1]

Achievements

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During Sudhir's coaching tenure, the following wrestlers received the following medals in International and World Championships, including 12 medals in the 1962 Asian Games (3 Gold, 6 Silver and 3 Bronze medals) and winning the team championship in the 1966 Commonwealth Games, with all seven Indian wrestlers winning medals (3 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze).[1][3]

Below is a list of wrestlers and their achievements during Sudhir's coaching career.[4]

Year Place Name Competition Style Weight Rank
1974 Christchurch Sudesh Kumar Commonwealth Games Freestyle 52 1
1974 Christchurch Premnath Commonwealth Games Freestyle 57 1
1974 Christchurch Jagrup Commonwealth Games Freestyle 68 1
1974 Christchurch Raghunath Pawar Commonwealth Games Freestyle 74 1
1970 Bangkok Chandagi Ram Asian Games Freestyle 100 1
1970 Edinburgh Ved Prakash Commonwealth Games Freestyle 48 1
1970 Edinburgh Sudesh Kumar Commonwealth Games Freestyle 52 1
1970 Edinburgh Udey Chand Commonwealth Games Freestyle 68 1
1970 Edinburgh Mukhtiar Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 74 1
1970 Edinburgh Harish Chandra Commonwealth Games Freestyle 82 1
1966 Kingston Bishmbar Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 57 1
1966 Kingston Mukhtiar Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 70 1
1966 Kingston Bishmbar Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle +97 1
1962 Jakarta Maruti Mane Asian Games Freestyle 97 1
1962 Jakarta Malwa Asian Games Greco-Roman 52 1
1962 Jakarta Ganpat Andalkar Asian Games Greco-Roman +97 1
1974 Christchurch Shivaji Chingle Commonwealth Games Freestyle 62 2
1974 Christchurch Satpal Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 82 2
1974 Christchurch Netar Pal Commonwealth Games Freestyle 90 2
1974 Christchurch Dadu Chogule Commonwealth Games Freestyle 100 2
1974 Christchurch Viswanath Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle +100 2
1970 Bangkok Jit Singh Asian Games Freestyle 90 2
1970 Edinburgh Sajjan singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 90 2
1970 Edinburgh Viswanath Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 100 2
1970 Edinburgh Maruti Mane Commonwealth Games Freestyle +100 2
1967 New Delhi Bishwambar Singh World Championship Freestyle 57 2
1966 Bangkok Biswanath Singh Asian Games Freestyle 97 2
1966 Kingston Shyamrao Sable Commonwealth Games Freestyle 57 2
1966 Kingston Randhawa Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 63 2
1962 Jakarta Udey Chand Asian Games Freestyle 70 2
1962 Jakarta Sajjan Singh Asian Games Freestyle 87 2
1962 Jakarta Ganpat Andalkar Asian Games Freestyle +97 2
1962 Jakarta Udey Chand Asian Games Greco-Roman 70 2
1962 Jakarta Sajjan Singh Asian Games Greco-Roman 87 2
1962 Jakarta Maruti Mane Asian Games Greco-Roman 97 2
1974 Tehran Satbir Asian Games Freestyle 57 3
1974 Tehran Satpal Singh Asian Games Freestyle 82 3
1974 Tehran Sukhchain Asian Games Freestyle 100 3
1974 Tehran Sukhchain Asian Games Greco-Roman 100 3
1974 Christchurch Radhey Shyam Commonwealth Games Freestyle 48 3
1970 Bangkok Om Prakash Asian Games Freestyle 68 3
1970 Bangkok Mukhtiar Singh Asian Games Freestyle 74 3
1970 Bangkok Netar Pal Asian Games Freestyle 82 3
1970 Edinburgh Randhawa Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 62 3
1966 Bangkok Shamrao Sable Asian Games Freestyle 52 3
1966 Bangkok Bishambar Singh Asian Games Freestyle 57 3
1966 Bangkok V.Chad Asian Games Freestyle 70 3
1966 Bangkok S.Singh Asian Games Freestyle 87 3
1966 Bangkok Bhim Singh Asian Games Freestyle +97 3
1966 Kingston Hukum Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 78 3
1966 Kingston Bishwanath Singh Commonwealth Games Freestyle 97 3
1962 Jakarta Malwa Asian Games Freestyle 52 3
1962 Jakarta Lakshmi Chand Gandey Asian Games Freestyle 78 3
1962 Jakarta Narin Ghume Asian Games Greco-Roman 57 3
1961 Yokohama Udey Chand World Championship Freestyle 67 3
1972 Munich Sudesh Kumar Olympic Games Freestyle 52 4
1972 Munich Premnath Olympic Games Freestyle 57 4
1965 Manchester Bishamber Singh World Championship Freestyle 57 4

During Sudhir's coaching career, wrestlers and officials from Panchanan Bayam Samity represented the State of West Bengal and India in International Championships.[2]

Some Wrestlers and Officials are listed below -

Name Achievements
Nirmal Bose 1948 and 1952 Olympics
K.P. Rai 1948 Olympics
Niranjan Das 1952 Olympics
Shyam Sundar Chaterjee 1953 World Youth festival Games/ Gold- Indo/Japan Games 1953
Yogeswar Singh 1954 Asian Games - 5th
Robin Hazra Gold - Indo -Ceylon meet - 1958
Tarkeswar Pandey 1956 Olympics
Dhanraj Misra National Champion - 1950
Hiralal Shaw National Champion - 1953
Sachidanandan Singh National Champion - 1970
Gupteshwar Misra International Judge/Referee
Asit Kumar Saha International Judge/Referee

As a coach, judge and referee, Sudhir represented India at different International Championships. Below are some of Sudhir's achievements[1][2] -

Year Championship
1961 World Wrestling Championship, Yokohama,Japan
1963 India-USSR Meet, Moscow, USSR
1964 Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan
1966 Commonwealth Games, Kingston, Jamaica
1966 India-Mexico Meet, Mexico City, Mexico
1966 India-England Meet, London, England
1967 World Wrestling Championship, Delhi, India
1971 Junior World Wrestling Championship, Tokyo, Japan

Mithun Chakraborty

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Actor, Mithun Chakraborty, learnt the art of wrestling under the supervision of Sudhir Saha at Panchanan Bayam Samity, Jorabagan Park, Kolkata.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Emen (2 August 1966). "Sudhir Saha :Blazing a new trail". Hindustan Standard.
  2. ^ a b c "West Bengal Wrestling Association". West Bengal Wrestling Association. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  3. ^ a b "FILA XVII World Wrestling Championship" (PDF). Wrestling Federation of India. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  4. ^ "FILA". FILA. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  5. ^ Dutta, Swarup (20 March 2013). "Kushti teo Champion Gaurango (Bengali)". Duniar Khas Khabar (Bengali).
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