‘Get real, fight me, Great Khali!’

Karam Prakash

Chandigarh, March 2

The Great Khali, the former WWE wrestler, has been challenged for a bout by Krishan Kumar, an international wrestler of the Olympics style wrestling. Kumar is particularly upset that Khali — real name Dalip Singh Rana — is portrayed as a great wrestler by the media and says that “Khali should stop fooling the nation with his fake wrestling”.

Kumar and the other national level wrestlers and their coaches say that the fans should realise that Khali’s style of wrestling is mere entertainment, in which the results of the bouts are scripted and pre-determined.

On February 24, reports came from Dehradun that Khali had been attacked by three other wrestlers and beaten up with chairs. Pictures showed him being transported in an ambulance, his face bloodied and his neck supported by a cervical collar. The injuries were said to be serious, and he was hospitalised. But then, just four days later, a miracle happened — on February 28, Khali beat up the three wrestlers who had attacked him and became a “champion”. This seems too good to be true — and it is not true.

The event was part of the Great Khali’s series of bouts, in association with Uttarakhand government.

It’s unreal!

Theatrics are a key part of the make-believe world of entertainment wrestling. But many fans of sport are unaware of this, even though satellite TV brought this style of tamasha to the Indian homes 25 years ago, when cable TV was launched in India.

The theatrics of Khali have prompted Kumar to challenge the former WWE wrestler. The wrestlers are surprised that even the government of a state can be taken in by the make-believe, staged and scripted bouts organised as “entertainment wrestling”.

Krishan Kumar says: “He’s fooling the country, especially the youngsters. This is very damaging to the real wrestling, the Olympics style wrestling, which we do.”

“This is more like a movie, where everything is planned beforehand,” he says. “People who are less aware are getting trapped in the theatrics of the WWE-style wrestling.”

Kumar says that any wrestler of the “real” wrestling style, weighing above 80kg, can easily beat Khali in a bout. “Even a lay person can, if he looks carefully, realise that their bouts are not real,” says the 125kg wrestler. “They try not to throw real punches at one another. They use the ring to create the sound of body impact by stomping on the mat each time they ‘land’ a punch. The WWE-style wrestlers do everything to protect one another.”

Kuldeep Singh, India’s chief coach (Greco-Roman style) said: “It’s more of a drama or a show than wrestling. Everything is planned in WWE. These wrestlers can’t be even called sportspersons, they are like theatre artists. It is very disheartening when the media compares Olympics medallist Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar with Khali. Yogeshwar and Sushil have worked so hard for decades to win their Olympics medals. People should realise what is real wrestling and who the real heroes of the sport are.”

Dara Singh, the great Indian wrestling icon, also was an “entertainment style” wrestler. A large number of sports fans in India are unaware of this. Krishan Kumar wants people to realise who the real wrestlers are — that’s why the challenge to Khali. Will Khali take up the challenge?