India’s First Individual Olympic Medal To Be Auctioned By Family
In a cricket crazy nation like ours, where other sports are ignored and most sports players are utterly disregarded; here is news that puts the entire nation to shame. The winner of India’s first Individual Olympic Medal winner, wrestler KD Jadhav’s family might be auctioning his bronze medal to raise funds for a wrestling academy; that the government had promised to build in his name in 2009; but were unsuccessful in doing so.
It was the legendary wrestler’s dream to set up a world-class academy in his village; reported the Indian Express. KD Jadhav, won the bronze medal at 1952 Helsinki Olympics in free style wrestling, at the age of 27, and remained the only Indian Olympic Medalist in an individual sport until 1996. He was posthumously conferred with the Arjuna Award; 16 years after his death; but is the only Indian Olympic medalist to have not been conferred a Padma Award.
“The decision to auction the bronze medal is a painful one but we are left with few options as the state government has reneged on its promise to build the academy,” Jadhav’s son, Ranjit, told PTI in a phone interview. Ranjit has issued an ultimatum to the state government, and the whole village would be going on a hunger strike, if it fails to fulfil its promise till August 14, which is also the 33rd Death Anniversary of the world class wrestler.
In 2009, the then state sports minister Dilip Deshmukh had announced that the government would set up a national-level wrestling academy at a wrestling event in Jalgaon, Maharashtra. “After eight years, nothing has materialised. In December 2013, Rs 1.58 crore was sanctioned for the project. But the project has failed to take shape,” a Hindustan Times report quoted Ranjit.
In an attempt to rightfully shame the government; KD Jadhav’s family is having to resort to this extreme measure. We sincerely hope that the government starts recognising the efforts and pays its due respect to the unsung heroes who bring pride and glory to the country.
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