Sajan Bhanwal, India’s young Greco-Roman hope, carries the dreams of a family and a nation

All Sarasvati Devi could understand from her son-in-law’s phone call was that her son Sajan has made the country proud. While she knew that her son has achieved a medal at an international level, she did not understand the magnitude of the achievement.

Sajan Bhanwal became the first Indian wrestler to win back-to-back World Championship medals after he won the silver medal in 77kg category in Greco-Roman style at the Junior World Championships in Trnava, Slovakia on Tuesday. He had won a bronze medal in the same category at the Tampere World Championships last year.

“Humne to kabhi dekha nahi kushti karte hue (We have never seen him wrestling). His sister’s husband watched the bout and called us. Really happy that my son has made the country proud outside India,” Sajan’s father Mahipal says.

Sajan’s parents have never seen him wrestle at a competition, not even at the Junior Asian Championships which were held in New Delhi and in which Sajan won gold medal. So they weren’t likely to stream the tournament from Slovakia.

“The Zila pradhan had come home before the Delhi tournament saying he’ll take us to the tournament. However, he never really came back. But now I will see the video of his bout when Sajan returns,” Mahipal says.

WhatsApp calls and videos

The 20-year-old’s win in Trnava was a result of some planned training and help from technology. The moment Sajan received his draw, he sent a photo of it to Rajbir Chhikara, his long-time coach in Kharkhoda, Sonipat.

Chhikara, a former international wrestler, gave his ward a WhatsApp call and gave him some tips about tackling the attacking skills of his opponents in 77kg weight category, including that of defending champ Kamal Bey of USA. The hour-long chat ended with Chhikara telling Sajan to focus on his style and not on the others. The rest of Sajan’s day was spent watching videos of his possible opponents.

But as luck would have it, none of the returning medallist was drawn on the similar side Sajan’s bracket. With that out of the way, Sajan ran through his side of the bracket before losing to Russia’s Opiev in the final.

“In Greco-Roman wrestling, there is a position par terre where you have to lie down on your stomach and the opponent gets to attack you. I worked on my defence to not give points. For two months after Asian Championships, that was the one aspect we wanted to work on,” Sajan told Scroll.in from Trnava.

The planning helped Sajan defeat wrestlers from Italy, Estonia, Norway and Ukraine on his way to the final. The returning bronze medallist from Tampere last year, Sajan could not have followed up on his Asian Championships title win in a better way. Chhikara says the last one year has been a fruitful one for Sajan which they want to continue.

“He won the gold in Delhi and we wanted to follow it with a medal in Slovakia otherwise it would have been a waste. Greco Roman wrestling is not very popular form in India but Sajan has done a world of good for it now. He is from a humble background and this is good for him,” Chhikara says.

Hard work

Sajan’s background is evident from the manner in which his father, who is farmer in village Kasandi, talks. No one in the family has wrestled before and when Mahipal had to decide whether to invest in his son’s future, he decided to opt for sports.

“Desh ke bahut khiladi shaan badha rahe the to maine bhi isse khiladi banane ka socha (Many of our country’s athletes are doing India proud and I thought I will help him become a sportsperson too). From then on, he picked up wrestling in Pratap School. I don’t know how he has reached here but it should be his hard work. I have tried helping him but because of our weak financial conditions, we had to borrow money and even the coaches helped,” Mahipal says.

But with Sajan joining Indian Air Force and establishing himself as India’s flag bearer in Greco-Roman style, a positive change should be in the offing.

“He has joined Air Force and the salary should help his family. But still a lot has to be done. We won a medal at junior worlds but there are two years to Tokyo Olympics and let’s see if he can make it there. He knows it’s tough but we will try. This win gave him a lot of confidence,” Chhikara says.

But all Sajan is thinking for now is of returning home and showing his parents the video of his bout. “I know how they have struggled and I cannot thank them enough. They should be happy about this. But I am not sure how they will react when I show them the medal.” Sajan says.