Sudhir Saha

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

Sudhir Saha before leaving for the 1964 Olympic Games.

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

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

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]

YearPlaceNameCompetitionStyleWeightRank
1974ChristchurchSudesh KumarCommonwealth GamesFreestyle521
1974ChristchurchPremnathCommonwealth GamesFreestyle571
1974ChristchurchJagrupCommonwealth GamesFreestyle681
1974ChristchurchRaghunath PawarCommonwealth GamesFreestyle741
1970BangkokChandagi RamAsian GamesFreestyle1001
1970EdinburghVed PrakashCommonwealth GamesFreestyle481
1970EdinburghSudesh KumarCommonwealth GamesFreestyle521
1970EdinburghUdey ChandCommonwealth GamesFreestyle681
1970EdinburghMukhtiar SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle741
1970EdinburghHarish ChandraCommonwealth GamesFreestyle821
1966KingstonBishmbar SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle571
1966KingstonMukhtiar SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle701
1966KingstonBishmbar SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle+971
1962JakartaMaruti ManeAsian GamesFreestyle971
1962JakartaMalwaAsian GamesGreco-Roman521
1962JakartaGanpat AndalkarAsian GamesGreco-Roman+971
1974ChristchurchShivaji ChingleCommonwealth GamesFreestyle622
1974ChristchurchSatpal SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle822
1974ChristchurchNetar PalCommonwealth GamesFreestyle902
1974ChristchurchDadu ChoguleCommonwealth GamesFreestyle1002
1974ChristchurchViswanath SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle+1002
1970BangkokJit SinghAsian GamesFreestyle902
1970EdinburghSajjan singhCommonwealth GamesFreestyle902
1970EdinburghViswanath SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle1002
1970EdinburghMaruti ManeCommonwealth GamesFreestyle+1002
1967New DelhiBishwambar SinghWorld ChampionshipFreestyle572
1966BangkokBiswanath SinghAsian GamesFreestyle972
1966KingstonShyamrao SableCommonwealth GamesFreestyle572
1966KingstonRandhawa SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle632
1962JakartaUdey ChandAsian GamesFreestyle702
1962JakartaSajjan SinghAsian GamesFreestyle872
1962JakartaGanpat AndalkarAsian GamesFreestyle+972
1962JakartaUdey ChandAsian GamesGreco-Roman702
1962JakartaSajjan SinghAsian GamesGreco-Roman872
1962JakartaMaruti ManeAsian GamesGreco-Roman972
1974TehranSatbirAsian GamesFreestyle573
1974TehranSatpal SinghAsian GamesFreestyle823
1974TehranSukhchainAsian GamesFreestyle1003
1974TehranSukhchainAsian GamesGreco-Roman1003
1974ChristchurchRadhey ShyamCommonwealth GamesFreestyle483
1970BangkokOm PrakashAsian GamesFreestyle683
1970BangkokMukhtiar SinghAsian GamesFreestyle743
1970BangkokNetar PalAsian GamesFreestyle823
1970EdinburghRandhawa SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle623
1966BangkokShamrao SableAsian GamesFreestyle523
1966BangkokBishambar SinghAsian GamesFreestyle573
1966BangkokV.ChadAsian GamesFreestyle703
1966BangkokS.SinghAsian GamesFreestyle873
1966BangkokBhim SinghAsian GamesFreestyle+973
1966KingstonHukum SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle783
1966KingstonBishwanath SinghCommonwealth GamesFreestyle973
1962JakartaMalwaAsian GamesFreestyle523
1962JakartaLakshmi Chand GandeyAsian GamesFreestyle783
1962JakartaNarin GhumeAsian GamesGreco-Roman573
1961YokohamaUdey ChandWorld ChampionshipFreestyle673
1972MunichSudesh KumarOlympic GamesFreestyle524
1972MunichPremnathOlympic GamesFreestyle574
1965ManchesterBishamber SinghWorld ChampionshipFreestyle574

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 -

NameAchievements
Nirmal Bose1948 and 1952 Olympics
K.P. Rai1948 Olympics
Niranjan Das1952 Olympics
Shyam Sundar Chaterjee1953 World Youth festival Games/ Gold- Indo/Japan Games 1953
Yogeswar Singh1954 Asian Games - 5th
Robin HazraGold - Indo -Ceylon meet - 1958
Tarkeswar Pandey1956 Olympics
Dhanraj MisraNational Champion - 1950
Hiralal ShawNational Champion - 1953
Sachidanandan SinghNational Champion - 1970
Gupteshwar MisraInternational Judge/Referee
Asit Kumar SahaInternational Judge/Referee

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

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

Mithun Chakraborty

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

References
  1. Emen (2 August 1966). "Sudhir Saha :Blazing a new trail". Hindustan Standard.
  2. "West Bengal Wrestling Association". West Bengal Wrestling Association. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  3. "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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