Halakurki wrestles his way to the podium

Seven years ago, Arjun Halakurki’s father wiped the sweat off his brows and stood in line for his daily wage after an eternity of ploughing his owner’s field. He collected the meagre sum, knowing well it wouldn’t be enough to feed five yearning mouths back home in Devanamatti in Bagalkot district. He took a detour to address the need.

Arjun and his family never saw him alive again.

A day after winning the bronze medal in the Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi on Tuesday (February 18), Arjun is back home to celebrate an annual festival, and do what he has wanted to and has done to a certain degree since his father’s passing: look after the family.

“He went hunting for wild rabbits. A truck ran over him and he died” he says, detached almost. “….from that night, we knew we didn’t have even that little money we had. My mother didn’t know what to do. My brothers and my sister were all too young, and I had to return to Bagalkot to DYES.”

“I remember crying for days. I was helpless and I thought life was over,” he adds, having warmed up to his emotions.

His father had introduced him to wrestling. His uncle ensured the fire would wage on, but neither knew beyond the confines of akharas and techniques needed to come away unscathed in casual bouts on the weekends. Still, they had managed to give Arjun a dream and a foundation to build on.

While his two elder brothers were told to think daily-wage work, Arjun was packed off to the DYES centre not far away for three years before he was moved to DYES, Davangere. “My time in Davanagere was great. I made a lot of friends and slowly I began to look at the positive side of life,” he says.

“Also, one of the things that happened was I learnt Greco-Roman style. It’s not at all common in India, you know. What we do is freestyle so it takes some time to understand the style. But once I moved, I started winning medals regularly.”

At home, by then, they had made a ritual of hanging his medals in the puja cupboard, but one was kept out in the main room - the only room - for everyone to see. It was the National medal in the 55kg Greco Roman category at the 2019 Nationals. It was the first time a wrestler from Karnataka had won a gold since M Mattupatti (82kg) in 1995.

Lack of physique, in comparison to those from Punjab and Haryana to some extent, has often been cited as the reason for the State’s lack of success in the sport. Shivanand Gowda, a coach at the DYES facility in Davanagere, was aware of this stereotype, but he saw a glimmer of hope in Arjun.

His ward wasn’t strong but he was determined. He wasn’t skilled, yet, but he was eager to learn. More than anything, he wanted to make a life for himself and his family. It was that spark that separated him from those bigger and stronger at the camp.

“I knew he would do well in Greco-Roman. It was an easy choice. He fatigued easily because he had no nourishment but he had that natural strength. Very few people come with that. Usually, they get strong after training and diet. Arjun was a natural. He also understood angles very easily early on,” raved Shivanand.

And thus began the systematic evolution of Arjun the wrestler. “At the hostel, I was given great food, but after that, I had to buy my own food. With how much money we had at home, that was impossible. I need close to a kilo of almonds, a couple of litres of milk and apples every day. That’s why getting placed in the Services was a blessing,” says the havildar who started as a sipahi two-and-a-half years ago.

The regulated regime, the diet and an unrelenting drive to prove his worth to those who didn’t take his family seriously, meant he was selected for the Indian senior team for the Asian Championships. Once there, he cruised. Until he didn’t.

The 22-year-old made it to semifinals against Iran’s Pouya Mohammad Naserpour, and he picked up a 7-0 lead…. “I am so angry I lost that game (7-8),” he says. “I still cannot believe it. I wrestled like a junior. I am very angry with myself. I had no business losing that game.”

What happened?

“Senior’s don’t wrestle like this. They don’t lose their cool. I did. See, it’s the juniors who use all their strength and the seniors who use their technique and skill and angles. I did until I didn’t. I wanted to make it to 10-0 and I had one minute left. My ego got the better of me,” he offers sincerely.

“The same thing happened to me in the Under-23 World Championships in Russia last year. I was up with 20 seconds to go and I gave up eight points to lose in the semifinals. I haven’t learnt. I need to go back and train.”

With the World Championships in two months, Arjun is back home for a few days before heading to the mats again. Then there’s the ultimate goal of making it to the 2024 Olympics. He’ll be the first from Karnataka - after Mohan Ramachandra Patil (Belgaum) in the 62kg category at the 1992 Olympics - to make it, but for that he’ll need to put on a couple of kilos since the lowest class begins at 57kg.

“The family is doing a bit better now, and I can afford food so…” he laughs.