It wasn’t the love for wrestling — however inherent it is among the Haryanvis — that drew Chirag Chikkara to an akhara. His reason was a bit rudimentary: to shed a few kilos. He was, what they euphemistically call around these parts, a ‘healthy’ child. “So, we thought wrestling would be a nice exercise,” his uncle Virender says.
As the new Olympic cycle begins, the now 18-year-old who only wanted to lose the baby fat was on Sunday night crowned the under-23 world champion, only the third Indian to achieve the feat after Aman Sehrawat and Reetika Hooda.
In doing so, he has also emerged as a contender in one of India’s most fiercely contested weight categories, 57 kg. He also announced himself as a fresh hope to continue India’s tradition in the class where his state-mates have won medals at the last two Games.
Ravi Dahiya, the Tokyo silver medallist who missed the Paris Olympics, is expected to move up the weight categories to 65 kg as the Los Angeles Games cycle begins. The talks within the wrestling circles also indicate that Paris Olympics bronze winner Aman, too, is considering competing in 65 especially since that weight class is bereft of world-class wrestlers now that Bajrang Punia isn’t regularly competing.
That leaves the contest open for the entry weight, that’s the 57 kg class. Chikkara, who finished third during the Asian Games trials last year, is now one of the top prospects with the under-23 crown.
“Over the years, some of our best wrestlers have competed in this weight category. So it isn’t surprising that we have another high-quality wrestler in 57. The level of sparring domestically is very high and it consequently produces good wrestlers,” Chikkara’s coach Kuldeep Sehrawat says. “It is one of the most competitive weight classes in India and this title will fill Chirag with confidence to do better.”
Son of an electrician
Unlike many others in Haryana, wrestling didn’t come naturally to Chikkara. His story doesn’t have a wrestling-tragic father or an akhara at home. The sport wasn’t even on the family’s radar despite being surrounded by it — Juan, in Sonepat, has a rich wrestling history and produced a few internationals.
Dinesh Chikkara, the wrestler’s father who works as an electrician at a sugar mill, thought his son would follow in his footsteps. “No one in the family has a sporting past. Chirag’s father is an electrician, his grandfather was a teacher at a government school and I am a trader,” says Virender. “But when he was admitted to a local akhara with the hope that he would lose some weight, Chirag really took to wrestling.”
Sushil Kumar, the two-time medallist from the region, served as an inspiration. When Dahiya stepped onto the podium in Tokyo in 2021, it further fuelled his belief.
Around that time, three years ago, Chikkara landed on the doorsteps of Sehrawat’s academy, which is backed by the Navy, to take the next step.
“In the trial bouts for selection to the academy, I noticed that he was fairly built for a 57 kg wrestler, had a good height, was flexible and showed admirable fighting spirit. I thought he could be moulded into a world-class wrestler,” Sehrawat, who has served as the India coach, says.
The move to Sehrawat’s Raipur akhara was necessitated by the fact that Chikkara had turned into the proverbial big fish in the small pond that the academy in Juan was. Here, he could spar daily with senior wrestlers with a proven pedigree.
Over the years, Chikkara has turned into a wrestler with solid defence and quick counterattacking abilities. “He doesn’t gift points, the opponent has to work really hard. What makes him tougher is that he has very high stamina too. So he won’t get tired deep into a bout and concede points,” Sehrawat says.
Some of these traits were seen during his gold medal march in Tirana, Albania, during the under-23 worlds where he beat wrestlers from powerhouse nations.
It began with a dominating 6-1 victory against Japan’s Gakuto Ozawa in the opening round, a 12-2 win by technical superiority against Russia’s Iunis Ibatirov in the quarterfinals and 8-0 thumping of Allan Oralbek in the semis.
In the final, Abdymalik Karachov of Kyrgyzstan stretched him to the limit — Chikkara trailed 0-2 and 2-3 at different stages of the bout but wrestled with calmness to overcome the deficit and become only the second male wrestler after Aman Sehrawat to win a U-23 world championship gold.
And with that, also stake a claim as an heir apparent in one of India’s strongest weight classes.
I’m Manas Ranjan Sahoo: Founder of “Webtirety Software”. I’m a Full-time Software Professional and an aspiring entrepreneur, dedicated to growing this platform as large as possible. I love to Write Blogs on Software, Mobile applications, Web Technology, eCommerce, SEO, and about My experience with Life.
