wrestling is largely a rural sport and it is in the villages of india that one will find wrestlers blossom each wrestler has a story behind what shapes them but heres a unique one of a wrestler family in belagavi which will remind you of aamir khans hit film dangalthe story of rajasab bevingidad 53 karnataka kesari from ugargol village in saudatti taluk is likely to remind you of mahaveer phogat the trainer father of olympians the phogat sisters who aamir played in dangal like mahaveer rajasab was forced to quit wrestling despite winning medals to make ends meet through farmingrajasab started wrestling from the age of 10 and went on to win several medals he brought laurels to his hometown by winning titles at the national level at his peak he bagged the all india champion title in wrestling held at kurnool in haryana in 1981 karnataka kesari in 1982 dasara kumar in 1982 and dasara kanteerava in 1983 he also participated in the hind kesari competition held at solapur rajasab played on both the mat and soil wrestling formatsspeaking to belgaum times rajasab says i was getting several opportunities to participate at international events but since i am from a poor farming family my parents couldnt afford to send me to the events what made matters worse was that i didnt get support from the governmentrajasab couldnt make his dreams come true but that didnt make him a bitter man in fact he actively works towards ensuring that budding wrestlers can realize their destiny i train around 15 wrestlers and this includes my two sons i want to see them playing for india at the international level apart from working as judge in wrestling events in villages i am invited by wrestling schools in belagavi dharwad davanagere and mangaluru to teach youngsters he saysmeerasab 22 rajasabs elder son a secondyear bachelor of arts student at shankar college in navalgund has trained under his father and got a university blue in 201617 and 201718 apart from having won several wrestling competitions at the state level he recently won gold at inter collegiate national level wrestling competition at sirsa haryana like his father he plays in both the soil and mat formats but is concentrating on the mat format so that he can represent india at the olympics and at other prestigious international events one daymy father is a great wrestler and won the hearts of lakhs of people in his heyday he had defeated a gold medalist at the commonwealth games in two minutes flat despite this he has not got any benefits from the government apart from 3000 as pension every month this despite nationallevel players getting jobs in neighbouring maharashtra but this didnt dent his love for the sport and he continues to nurture young talent my father has trained hundreds of wrestlers from north karnataka who have gone on to participate in games at the national level my younger brother mushphikir alam 13 is also