Chandgi Ram Biography 
Chandgi Ram was a freestyle wrestler from Haryana. He lived during the period, 9 November 1937 – 29 June 2010. In 1970 Asian Games held at Bangkok he earned gold medal. He was also associated with amateur wrestling apart from traditional Indian wrestling, and registered many wins and titles. Hind Kesari, Bharat Kesari, Bharat Bhim, Rustom-e-Hind and Maha Bharat Kesari are among the major titles won by him. He represented India at 1972 Summer Olympics, though couldn’t make any achievements. For his overall contributions towards the field of Indian sports, government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 1971. For his achievements in wrestling, he was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 1969.
Chandgi Ram was born on 9 November 1937 in Sisai village, Hisar, now a part of Haryana state. Unlike others, he took up wrestling at a comparatively older age of 21. Yet it was not late, and he earned almost all major titles related to wrestling and created a niche of his own in this field. He became the national champion at the age of 24 in 1961 at Ajmer, three years later he took the sport. From there on, he registered almost all major amateur and traditional wrestling titles within the country, apart from winning a gold at Asian Games in 1970. He married thrice and had 6 children.
He was mostly active in local wrestling more than amateur wrestling. In 1970 Asian Games, he represented India in the 100 kg freestyle event. He defeated Japan's Shizuo Yada in the finals to win his first Asiad gold. In 1972 he shifted to Delhi from Haryana, where he opened up his wrestling training centre in 1975. It was named Chandgi Ram Vyayamshala. He played an important role in bringing women to wrestling field and his attempts began in 1997. His daughter Sonika Kaliraman, trained by him is one of the leading female wrestlers of the country, who won the title of Bharat Kesri in Bharat Kesri Dangal in 2001.
Published: January 30, 2019
Updated: January 30, 2019
