'Non-violent combat sport': Fast rising arm-wrestling to get push with Pro Panja League

The Pro Panja League - the brainchild of popular Bollywood actor Parvin Dabas and his wife Preeti Jhangiani - kicked off with its inaugural edition in 2020 and received a great response from Indian fans. The announcement of the tournament took the popularity of arm-wrestling to another level altogether, with the help of the fact that the Indian masses were already acquainted with it. Meanwhile, the founder and organiser of Pro Panja League, Dabas spoke to Republic in an exclusive interview and revealed many aspects about the rapidly rising sport in India.

During his telephonic interview with Republic, Parvin Dabas was questioned why and how Pro Panja League came about. The actor cited the example of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) - a sport he has been previously involved in.

“I have been involved in MMA since 2016 and abroad it is a very popular sport. Firstly I think MMA is a really exciting sport but that's a niche sport, I don’t think panja (arm-wrestling) is a niche sport. Panja is a sport for the masses, while MMA has blood. What I feel panja has over MMA is the fact that it is also an aggressive sport, but without the violence and blood. What I have noticed in India is that a lot of the families don't like the blood part of it," Dabas said.

"Even if you ask somebody on the road, about MMA, people will answer saying they don’t know about it. However, when you ask them about panja, they know about wrestling despite the fact they are in a village or are industrialists. Everyone knows what panja or arm-wrestling is and its basic rule of putting the other person’s hand down. So, on that level it is a very simple sport to understand, it is a sport of the masses, it's an aggressive sport, which people like but without bloodshed. I call it a non-violent combat sport,” Dabas added. 

Parvin Dabas on why he chose arm-wrestling

Adding to his answer about why he chose arm-wrestling as the sport to take forward, Dabas told Republic, “People understand the name, they understand the sport, everybody wants to watch it and let me tell you it is very very addictive. Wherever we have done an event, people have gone crazy because up till now they knew about the sport but they didn’t know it is played as a sport." 

He added that despite the fact that panja seems to be an Indian sport, it is played by more foreigners than the number of athletes who play Kabaddi. Dabas was then questioned about the locations in India where panja has been popular. Answering the question, he said Delhi NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Assam are a few of the places, which have immense liking for the sport. 

Which players can take the popularity of the Pro Panja League to the next level?

Dabas further faced the question about the players who can take Pro Panja League forward, both as a tournament and as the flag-bearer of the sport.

“There are absolutely some players that I would like to mention. One is Sachin Goyal and Karaj Singh. Sachin is from Madhya Pradesh and Karaj is from Haryana. Both of these guys have fought on our platform twice already, both times Karaj won and both times it has gone to a tie-breaker. The one in Mumbai was a best of five, it was last Feb in Mumbai with the Gateway of India and Taj Hotel in the background. The fight went 2-2 each into the tie-breaker," Dabas answered.

"There were all invitees, about 200 people who didn’t know about these arm-wrestlers before that evening, but by the fifth round, everybody was either shouting ‘Sachin, Sachin’ like in a cricket match or Karaj. So these guys were able to bring it and make the audience involve,” he added.

Dabas also mentioned Harman from Punjab and Chetna Sharma as some of the other big names in the tournament. 

'Planning a bigger event now'

The organiser then revealed how Pro Panja League has tackled the challenge of holding tournaments amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have been fortunate that all our events have been with crowds. It will take another year for things to get normal. We are planning a bigger event now and it will be without the crowd," Pravin said.

He concluded by saying that they have to work around and with COVID-19 while it takes another year before the crowd comes back in full capacity.

(Image: Pro Panja League)