‘He had to struggle for everything’

Ranjeet Jadhav will participate in the state’s golden jubilee celebrations but he knows that his father, one of the heroes of the state, will get no recognition.

Fifty-eight years after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, India’s first individual medallist, won the bronze at the Helsinki Games his family looks for recognition.

“My father had to struggle for everything. Even after his death no one bothered to acknowledge his contribution towards wrestling,” Jadhav’s son Ranjeet said.

So disillusioned is the Jadhav family, with the step-motherly treatment wrestlers receive, that none from this generation have taken to the sport. Ranjeet, who retired as state transport depot manager from Satara, is into farming and also runs the Olympian KD Jadhav Pratisthan. “I lost my father when I was 13. I have seen my mother struggle to get support from the state government,” Ranjeet said.

Khashaba Jadhav, born on January 15, 1925, got a chance to represent India in the London Olympics in 1948. However, he had never wrestled on the mat before. Moreover, he wasn’t familiar with the rules of mat wrestling. Fighting against the odds, Jadhav finished sixth.

In 1952 Jadhav had to petition the Maharaja of Patiala to ensure that he was picked for the Helsinki Olympics. This was because some of the officials were biased towards Jadhav. Rajaram College’s principal Khardekar mortgaged his house for Rs 7,000, while the villagers helped by contributing funds to facilitate Jadhav’s trip to Helsinki. “Even after the huge success, he returned back home without much fanfare. No one wrote about him and just a small felicitation was organised in Karad,” Ranjeet said.

It was expected that government would make use of Jadhav’s knowledge and experience for the promotion of wrestling. “A man of such calibre should have been appointed as a sports officer. He was crowned champion in the All India Police meet at Madras in 1957. Unfortunately, it turned out as the last professional tournament of his life as his knee got dislocated.

Jadhav wanted to participate in the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. But his dream remained unfulfilled. He also wished to go abroad and study sports medicine. He was confident he would produce another Olympic medallist.

Though Baburao Kashid (gold medallist in Asian Games, Manila, 1954) and Sampat Phadtare (national champion in 1962), both Jadhav’s wards, did a commendable job but were unable to excel at the Olympic level.

“It is sad that not a single wrestler from Maharashtra took the world by storm after him. Maharashtra Kustigir Parishad, which was formed just after his Olympic feat has forgotten him. They have done nothing in the last 58 years. The fact is our wrestlers are satisfied with the Maharashtra Kesari title. Not a single winner of Maharashtra Kesari has won anything of note at the national level,” Ranjeet added.

“The KD Jadhav Sports Complex at Goleshwar is in the pipeline. A total of 100 wrestlers will train in this complex. The government had sanctioned Rs one crore for the project but we are still waiting for the money,” Ranjeet said.

Even while he hopes that being a wrestler will once again be fashionable, Ranjeet can’t help wonder why his father got such a raw deal. “He deserves to get the Padma Shri award. Only then will his achievements be recognised.”