'Goonga Pehelwan' Virender Singh Makes India Proud Again in Deaflympics

Virender Singh Makes India Proud

Virender Singh aka 'Goonga Pehelwan' never gets to hear the national anthem himself on the podium, but that hasn't stopped this man from winning India medals consistently in international competitions be it in Deaflympics or World Deaf Wrestling Championship. In this ongoing Deaflympics 2017, he has earned for the nation another Gold Medal in 74 kg freestyle wrestling, defeating Shakro Chakvetadze of Georgia in the final, routing his opponent 18-9 eventually before busking in glory. His inspiration has led two other wrestlers to Bronze medals this Deaflympics- Ajay Kumar in 65 kg Freestyle and Sumit Dahiya in 97 kg Freestyle.

Deaflympics

This wonder hero has done it for the fourth time in a row, winning 4 medals straight in 4 consecutive Deaflympics. 3 of them are Gold Medals. He has long emerged as the face of all deaf athletes in the country after repeatedly proving his mettle on the world stage. Virender won India's first and only gold medal at the 2005 Deaflympics in Melbourne. The fairy-tale journey that started there at Melbourne, is still continuing with a Gold this time too in Samsun. He hasn't failed to keep the tri-color flying throughout these 12 years, with a Silver & Bronze in 2008 Armenia and 2012 Bulgaria World Deaf Wrestling Championship respectively. The other 2 Deaflympics medals came in form of a Bronze in 2009 Taiwan and another Gold in 2013 Bulgaria.



"He has initially earned his fame winning dangals. He fights 20-25 dangals a year. Out of all the dangals that we watched, he was defeated only once and that too because of an error by the referee. He weighs 74 kilos but in these dangals he fights wrestlers weighing 100 kilos upwards and defeats them through sheer guile and strength." as pointed out by Vivek Chaudhary in his documentary 'Goonga Pehelwan', which released in 2013, based on the life and struggles of Virender Singh Yadav one of India's most accomplished deaf athletes. The documentary spoke about how Virender Singh, despite being a World Champion and Deaflympics Medalist multiple times, is unrecognized and uncelebrated by the country and the Government.








It was solely because of Virender’s international wins that the Council of Ministers approved the inclusion of deaf games in the Sports Policy of India, hence opening doors for other deaf athletes. Before this, most deaf athletes never even considered turning professional. But the authorities have been insensitive from time to time. During the release of 'Goonga Pehelwan' and after, there have been an increasing number of articles on the film and Virender Singh Yadav. But things changed with time and the apathy of Indian sports administration is visible every now and then. Last year, Virender's only goal was to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but the management had put forth the argument that he couldn't compete as he wouldn’t be able to hear the referee whistling. Virender, on the other hand, stood his ground saying that he can maintain perfect eye contact with the referee and can fight as well as any other able-bodied wrestler, but he was not allowed eventually.



No admiration from the sports authorities, no recognition from media, time and again apathy and callousness from official bodies, has not deterred this hero from performing and bringing his nation glory. Virender Singh Yadav aka 'Goong Pehelwan' is not only a specially abled sports personality that India has got, as a prized possession, he is also an inspiration for the rest of the nation. Hoping the authorities will not take much time to come out of the slumber.