Dara Singh gave muscle to wrestling

By A.C De Silva

WRESTLING: India bid goodbye to one of their illustrious wrestlers of the past Dara Singh in Mumbai on Thursday, July 12 this year at the age of 83 years. He made a good careers - cinema and Wrestling. He propelled to fame in wrestling and according to records, he fought 500 bouts without losing one. Although there is no formal proof of the number of fights that he won, some of his freestyle wrestling fights were scripted to entertain the crowd.

During his lifetime he was up against men with fanciful names such as Flash Gordon, Hulk Hogan, Wong Bok Lee and King Kong. His bouts against the last, an Australian who is said to have weighed 200 kilograms, were legendary. On January 4, 1962, it is said that around 30,000 people had gathered in Madras to watch them battle in South-East Asia Championship. There was an unexpected twist in the second round when King Kong aimed a blow at the match referee, leading to his disqualification and Dara Singh's declaration as winner. Dara Singh's popularity cut across classes, regions and religions, his fame spreading from the field of Punjab, where he was born Deedar Singh Randhawa in a village near Amritsar, to the lanes in old Delhi and to far-flung places well south of the Vindhyas. Until the 1970s, he travelled across the globe for his freestyle wrestling bouts.

Having started wrestling at the tender age of 10 years and he loved to wrestle, but it never occurred to him to take the "matt" until his father Surtha Singh, Middle Weight Champion of his day induced him to do it. At 17 Dara trained in the freestyle and fought his first professional fight in Amritsar in 1945.

Then in around 1960 he weighed 275 pounds, made a neck of 20 1/2 inches: Chest of 52 inches: Biceps of 18 inches and fully developed thighs of 32 inches which is most impressive.

Many wins

Like all other Asian wrestlers Dara Singh has fought foreigners the world over and has beaten many. To mention a few, he has beaten John Marror of Australia in 1950 in Rangoon, George Daune also of Australia and Bell Warner of England, in Singapore, and the Heavyweight Champion of Malaya - Sun of Kong whom he beat without difficulty. His popularity cut across classes, regions and religions, his fame spreading from the fields of Punjab. On celluloid, his ripling physique became a selling point even before the expression six pack was invented.

At various meets the crowds came in large numbers to watch their undoubted favourite - 'Killer' Dara Singh.

They wanted to watch his signature move - the 'Indian Deathlock' - that immobilised the opponent. And Dara Singh did not disappoint them. In one of the early wrestling matches held in August 1960 at the Salt Cotaurs grounds near Basin Bridge, he knocked down Lionel Edwards of England in the fifth round with his famous move. The fans were immensely entertained.

Madras audiences were not new to wrestling. Movie halls often showed short films of international wrestling matches. Dara Singh was well-known to the wider Tamil audience. He appeared in the Tamil Movie "Engal Selvi", which was released in July 1960.

Star attraction match with King Kong

The match between Dara Singh and King Kong, his famed opponent from Hungary, was the star attraction. Whenever the two fought, the fans wanted more of it. In January 1962, Dar Singh and King Kong wrestled at the Rajendra Singhji Stadium. During the second round, King Kong, for reasons unknown, aimed a blow at the referee Harnam Singh, who was the father of Ajit Singh, another well-known wrestler. The organisers promptly disqualifed King Kong and declared Dara Singh the winner. In the early days when there are no fights, Dara Singh helped his father in his farm.

Talking about exercises, Dara Singh said that every morning he does his exercises starting at 4.30 and does a thousand squats and 500 dips. He also does a lot of walking and stationary running, especially when in a hotel. The evenings are devoted to sparring and he also does a few squats and dips.

Diet during training

When in training, his diet consists of eight eggs and three bottles of milk and for breakfast he has 4 eggs, bread and butter with any other curries served.

Lunch: One chicken a lot of vegetables, bread and butter and ghee in abundance which he takes even not in training. Dinner: One chicken with thick gravy, Chappathi Roti and a pound of grapes. He winds up the day before going to bed with three pints of milk.

Dara's sportsmanship has gained him a host of admirers in South-East Asia.