The six-page hand-written letter, which KD’s son Ranjit Jadhav has preserved, is a sorry learn. It is like a hallowed feat delivered to its knees, like asking a diamond to show its value.
Jadhav was a person who dwarfed a mountain that India thought was unscalable. His wrestling bronze on the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki expanded India’s focus past hockey. However the indicators of it had emerged 4 years earlier, in 1948, throughout unbiased India’s first look on the Video games below the tricolour.
For a ticket to the London Olympics, the 22-year-old Jadhav was pitted in opposition to nationwide champion Niranjan Das. At over six ft in top, Das towered over the 5-feet-5-inch Jadhav. However it was Jadhav who discovered himself on the airplane to England in 1948.
In London, Jadhav did not disappoint the Maharaja of Kolhapur, who, in line with historic accounts, had financed his journey. Jadhav completed sixth there.
It was additionally 1948 when Jadhav’s tutorial profession had moved from the Tilak Excessive College in Karad to the Rajaram School in Kolhapur. A gifted athlete, Jadhav’s prowess as a sportsman went past wrestling. The captain of the kabaddi crew throughout his highschool days, Jadhav was equally adept at swimming, mallakhamb and throwing occasions in monitor and discipline.
(Photograph Courtesy: Ranjit Jadhav, son)
From 1948 to 1952, he dominated the wrestling area on the Bombay and Poona College championships. Writing about his achievements within the above-mentioned letter to the IG of Maharashtra Police, Jadhav mentions that put up his 1952 triumph, he was not allowed to take part in that wrestling championship. The zonal committee had handed a decision that “I had no competitor in that occasion.” That was the stature of Jadhav’s exploits.
It isn’t conclusive whether or not that decision was handed earlier than or after Jadhav gained the historic Olympic bronze, however his journey to the Video games in Helsinki adopted a script much like London 4 years in the past.
A ebook in Hindi, titled ‘Olympic Veer Khashaba Jadhav’ and authored by Sanjay Dudhane, mentions the story.
The Maharaja of Patiala, who additionally headed the Indian Olympic Affiliation at the moment, ordered a variety trial after Jadhav and different wrestlers complained of bias by officers on the Nationals, which additionally doubled up as a variety occasion for Olympics. An unbeaten run on the trials earned Jadhav a spot on the Olympic crew. Each Jadhav and Das made it to the squad.
However that wasn’t the one hurdle. Crowd-funding was as soon as once more wanted for Jadhav to make the Finland journey. To make sure he did not miss out due to monetary constraints, the principal of Rajaram School went past his restrict to assist out his meritorious scholar. Principal R Khardikar mortgaged his home to lift Rs 7000 for Jadhav’s journey.
(Photograph Courtesy: Ranjit Jadhav, son)
So as to bear in mind and return the cash later to all who helped, Jadhav gave a receipt to everybody who contributed.
“I discovered it [the receipts] in no matter he had saved. So I saved it safely,” mentioned his son Ranjit, speaking to Timesofindia.com.
In Helsinki, whereas most of India had set their eyes on the velodrome within the Kapyla Sports activities Park, which hosted the boys’s hockey competitors, Jadhav saved rolling out his ‘daavs’ (strikes) to progress on the wrestling mats. The ‘Dhak’ (gripping the opponent in a headlock earlier than flinging him round) and his small construct had earned Jadhav the identify ‘Pocket Dynamo’.
He defeated Adrien Poliquin, Leonardo Basurto and Ferdinand Schmitz earlier than dropping to Rashid Mammadbeyov. Exhausted, Jadhav acquired little time to get well earlier than his subsequent match in opposition to the eventual gold medallist Shohachi Ishii. However reaching that far and regardless of dropping to Ishii, Jadhav ensured a historic Olympic medal for India.
It has been acknowledged that he was accorded a princely welcome upon return to his hometown, with a festive procession that took hours to achieve his dwelling.
(Photograph Courtesy: Ranjit Jadhav, son, on the fitting)
Jadhav’s son went on to call their home in Goleshwar (in Satara, Maharashtra) because the ‘Olympic Niwas’. “It was his want,” mentioned Ranjit.
And to mark the city as a part of India’s Olympic historical past, the native authorities put in a determine of Olympic rings in reminiscence of the son of the soil.
In 1955, the celebrated Indian wrestler was recruited by Maharashtra Police as a sub-inspector, however a knee harm dashed his hopes of that includes in his third Olympics.
Whereas with the state police pressure, he continued to contribute each as a participant and a coach, for which he certified from the Nationwide Institute of Sports activities in Patiala in 1962.
However largely, Jadhav’s story became that of a forgotten hero, whose reminiscences have been revived solely in 1996, when tennis ace Leander Paes’s singles bronze turned solely India’s second particular person Olympic medal.
Within the yr 2000, Jadhav was given the Arjuna Award posthumously. However he nonetheless stays the one Indian Olympic medallist with out a Padma award.
“There was not a lot value in his life afterward. Such an enormous tragedy he needed to face,” mentioned Ranjit. “My father was a down-to-earth man. He by no means mentioned something [publicly], by no means promoted himself. Due to that, ek gumnam maut mili [he died quietly, not known to too many people]. It was unhappy,” Ranjit recalled, whereas speaking to TimesofIndia.com.
(Photograph Courtesy: Ranjit Jadhav, son)
Ranjit underlined his sentiment with an incident.
“On the 1982 Asian Video games in Delhi, when there have been simply two days left earlier than the opening ceremony, his [Jadhav’s] identify was not within the record [of invitees]. A journalist reminded the authorities about that. After that, his ticket and invitation got here in on the final minute. That was unhappy.”
Jadhav spent simply over a yr in his hometown after retirement, earlier than he died in an accident.
“I used to be simply 13 years outdated when my father handed away…(now) I’ve been desperately making an attempt to get my father’s feat recognised with a posthumous Padma award. I’ve been making an attempt so arduous, working from pillar to put up. He ought to have gotten it within the Fifties, when it was began, when he was alive,” lamented the son of the legend.