Chandigarh, February 23
With over 200 wrestling tittles under his belt, India’s sole WWF wrestler now wants the government to set up training facilities in the country for grooming wrestlers to international standards.
Towering an inch over seven feet, Dalip Singh has earned his tittles the hard way. Once a roadside daily wager, he joined the Punjab Police in 1994 and thereafter began to pursue bodybuilding which resulted in a gruelling schedule. Quiet and amiable, he likes to keep a low profile.
Talking to The Tribune, 31-year-old Dalip, who hails from Sirmour in Himachal Pradesh, said he was now gearing up to participate in wrestling matches in Japan next month. Claiming to be the only Indian citizen actively pursuing WWF wrestling, which has youngsters glued to the TV screen as well as the Internet, he said that he had participated in 250 or so tournaments so far, out of which he had won about 200 matches. All his matches have been abroad, particularly Japan, the United States and Mexico. He is also a member of the New Japan Pro-Wrestling Association.
Dalip, who won the 1997-98 Mr India title, said that he underwent wrestling training in the United States for about a year and a half under a sponsored programme. His coach was D. Morgan. In India, he said, he did only weight training and could not practice wrestling as there were no other WWF graplers in the country. He added that he left for tournaments abroad several days before the matches were scheduled so that he could go in for a few practice sessions with other pros. He said that wrestlers abroad lay more stress on wrestling sessions rather than weighttraining and felt that Indians could do much better than them in this field.
Dalip’s training schedule consists of two hours weighttraining in the morning and afternoon every day. Three days a week he goes running for about half an hour. The result is a chest measuring 65 inches and a weight of 165 kg. He weighed 90 kg when he joined the police. To maintain his size, he consumes five kg milk, five chickens and two dozen eggs along with chapatis, juice and fruit daily.
Dalip said he had spoken to top police officials about special facilities for his diet, who have agreed to work out something for him considering that he is a “rare” person. Apart from his police salary, he gets no other benefit. He said that given his expenditure, including trips abroad and his earnings from matches, he just about gets even.
Married two years ago to Harpinder Kaur, he is currently posted as a sub-inspector at Jalandhar. He said that other members in his family, including his parents and seven siblings, were all of normal height, though his grandfather was very tall.
