Know your Indian Olympian: 10 things you need to know about wrestler Narsingh Yadav

Narsingh Yadav waving the Tricolour

Here is the compilation of 10 things that will help you to know him better:

1.Narsingh Pancham Yadav was born in an agricultural family background on 6th August 1989 to Mr. Pancham Yadav and Mrs. Bhulna Devi from Eastern Uttar Pradesh. His father works as a milk distributor in Mumbai whereas his mother takes care of their farming land in the Neema village in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh.

2.He started his wrestling training at a tender age of 13 years with his brother Vinod Yadav, who is also a wrestler by trade. Both the brothers live and train in the suburban Jogeshwari district in Mumbai.

3.Narsingh came into the limelight at the time of 2010 Commonwealth Games, when he received a last-minute call-up as a replacement player to take part in the freestyle 74 kg category. However, Narsingh grabbed the opportunity with both hands and heroicly clinched the Gold medal in front of his home fans by beating Richard Brian Addinall of South Africa in the final bout.

4.The 26-year old wrestler had mixed 2011 and 2012, he won the Silver medal at the 2011 Commonwealth Championships in Melbourne, Australia but lost in the opening round of the 2012 London Olympics in the freestyle 74 kg to Canada’s Matt Gantry.

5.At the 2014 Asian Games, the Mumbai-based wrestler lost to Uzbekistan’s Rashid Kurbanov in the round of 16. However, as Rashid reached the final of the tournament, and with the help of wrestling’s repechage system, Narsingh got to fight for the Bronze medal. The 26-year old again took the opportunity and won 2 straight games to clinch the Bronze medal. He defeated Japan’s Daisuke Shimada 3:1 in the final bronze medal clash.

6.In the month of September 2012, Narsingh Yadav was selected for a position of Deputy Superintendent of Police by the Maharashtra State Government in honour of his exploits at the international stage, a position he still holds.

7.Narsingh’s biggest highlight of his career came at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships which were taking place in Las Vegas, USA, he got through to the 4th round with 3 straight victories. On the way to the 4th round, he defeated 3:1 Hanoch Rachamin of Israel in the first round, Soener Demirtas of Turkey in the second round and Livan Lopez Azcuy of Cuba in the third round. 

However, the freestyle wrestler lost to Mongolia’s Unurbat Purevjav in the fourth round and was left to challenge for the Bronze medal. In the bronze medal bout, he defeated the French international Zelimkhan Khadjiev 5:0 to clinch his first medal at the world championships.

8.After winning India's sole medal at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships, Narsingh booked himself a ticket to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But his spot at the Olympics is currently in contention with Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar also vying for that same berth.

“It’s a federation’s prerogative to select a player for the Olympics and I am not thinking about it”

9.He was picked up by Bangalore-based franchise Bengaluru Yodhas as their marquee signing and paid a whopping sum of INR 34.5 lakhs in order to secure his services for the recently concluded Pro Wrestling League. The franchise is co-owned by Indian test team skipper Virat Kohli and JSW group.

10.Narsingh is supported by JSW group under their Sports Excellence Program, a program which funds 39 athletes across five disciplines namely; track and field, boxing, wrestling, judo and swimming.