New Delhi: Bollywood actor duo of Parvin Dabas and Preeti Jhangiani, the promoters of the inaugural Pro Panja League, are excited to see the competition gaining a very healthy momentum on the opening weekend here at the national capital and feel there is a huge potential as the traditional sport has been rebranded into a televised one, taking it to every Indian household.
On Friday, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju inaugurated the competition by raising the curtains before the start of the main card at the IGI Stadium here. Ludhiana Lions and Mumbai Muscle won their respective matches on the opening night.
The debut season consists of 10 weight classifications, including three women’s, six men’s and a physically challenged category. The tournament is being contested between six teams of 30 players, each.
In an exclusive chat with EastMojo, the actor couple said that the support the competition received on the opening two days is encouraging, and also explained in great detail the format of the league and the reason they chose the national capital for the first-ever televised season.
Why Delhi?
“Delhi desi nehi hai kya?, asked Parvin before explaining the reason, “Panja has always been played in Delhi, like all other Indian cities and towns. I was born and brought up in the city, and people here have always played the sport in colleges, schools, of course in the traditional style. And Delhi, being surrounded by states like Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, and Punjab, has always been associated with contact sports. And that was the logic behind hosting it in Delhi,” he added.
“Our attempt is to make the sport a televised one, with prime time slots, with world-class facilities, foreign coaches and helping the players get the limelight which they deserve. The players have been selected on the basis of their performances in national tournaments, and only the top 18 from each category have been selected. This creates a highly competitive environment and keeps everyone on the edge, with the audience being treated with top-class matches,” he explained.
Dabas, who has acted in films like Khosla Ka Ghosla, also spoke about his interest in sports and what led to the competition’s inception.
“I’ve always been a sportsman and got involved in sports in 2016–17. By following MMA India.com, I started thinking of sports promotions in which I could get involved and that’s where Panja came to me as a sport, which every other Indian understands, and it has a homegrown name and ethos as well. I knew that every Indian would understand the basic idea behind it and the basic rules,” he said.
Preeti, who has also been instrumental in promoting the sport across the country, said that the inaugural season is always an investment that helps the sport’s growth. “The basic idea is to promote and ensure the growth of the support with constant support for the first two or three seasons. We have to create that awareness among the people and the potential followers of the sport in the first few seasons, and gradually people will see the value of the sport.”
Preeti also highlighted that it is the only tournament which has male, female, and specially-abled on the same platform. “It’s definitely a big boost for female athletes as they share the same stage and gain the same popularity as their male counterparts. Even the specially-abled athletes are getting the kind of attention they deserve, which makes the league super exciting.”
The second day of the Pro Panja League saw more thrilling arm wrestling action at the jam-packed IGI Stadium, with Rohtak Rowdies and Ludhiana Lions picking up sensational victories over Baroda Badshahs, and Mumbai Muscle, respectively.
In the undercard of the first contest between Rohtak and Baroda, Aryan Gangotri, and Parmpreet Kaur picked up wins for Rowdies to earn 2 points while Anslet Jose won the bout for Badshahs to get one point. In the main card, Rohtak’s Dara Singh faced off against Baroda’s Kanan in the 100kg bout. The evenly-contested bout saw a display of tremendous technical proficiency. As the bout went to a strap, Dara Singh managed to quickly roll over his opponent’s arm to get a 3-1 win.
The second contest saw Rohtak’s Rahul Panicker face off against Baroda’s Tridip Medhi. With a top-arm roll-over, Rahul took a 2-0 lead and then issued a 10-second challenge. Winning the challenge in one second, Rahul earned 10 points for his team. The final bout was between Rohtak’s Rita Sengnerpi and Baroda’s Arya P. To cover the deficit, Arya issued the 10-second Challenge after winning the first round and then won the challenge to earn 5 bonus points. With a 10-0 win, Arya closed the gap, but Rohtak Rowdies won the match 15-12.
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In the undercard of the second match between Ludhiana and Mumbai, Rahul, Kusum Goswami, and Santos Ray won the bouts to give Lions a 3-0 lead. In the main card, Lions’ Shivam Rajput faced off against Mumbai’s Pramod Mukhi in the 100kg bout. Shivam tried to use the popular King’s move to get the win, but Pramod’s power had no reply. Pramod won the bout 3-0 to give Mumbai two more bonus points and turn the table in the match.
Next up, Sanu Joy came for the Lions to face off against Mumbai’s Akash Mukhi in a 70kg bout and used the Challenge Round effectively to earn 10 points and again turn back the tide in Ludhiana’s favour. The final bout of the night was between Ludhiana’s Nawab Singh against Mumbai’s Arpan Kar in the 90kg category. Nawab won the bout 3-0 to earn two bonus points for his side with ease, to script a thrilling 18-5 win.
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