Let’s take a look at the iconic KD Jadhav

Wrestling Career

Dadasaheb Jadhav who was the father of KD Jadhav was a wrestling coach and he encouraged his son to pick up wrestling as a sport. KD Jadhav first came into the limelight at the 1948 Olympics where he finished 6th in the freestyle wrestling category. It was held in London. The Indian sports fraternity was impressed with his 6th place finish and they saw the potential in this wrestler. From 1948-1952 KD Jadhav trained rigorously and he participated In the 57 KG weight category which was the bantamweight category. There were wrestlers from 24 countries at the Olympics in 1952.

1948 London Olympics

Now let’s look at the two Olympic Games that KD Jadhav participated in for India. The first was the 1948 London Olympics. His funding was managed by the then Maharaja of Kolhapur. When he was in London, KD Jadhav was trained by Ress Gardener who was a lightweight World Champion. KD Jadhav shocked the world as he beat the Australian wrestler Bert Harris in the first few minutes of the bout. He also beat Billy Jemigan of the USA. This was the first step for 1952 where he would make India proud.

1952 Helsinki Olympics

It was the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and KD Jadhav was prepared for creating history for India. There was no Indian official with him. He won his first 3 bouts as he beat Adrien Polliquin of Canada then he beat Leonardo Basurto of Italy and then he beat the wrestler from Germany. It was 23rd July 1952 when KD Jadhav created history and he won the Bronze Medal for India. After his return to India there was a huge crowd that gathered at the Karad railway station to welcome their hero. This changed Indian sports forever.

Honors

• He was given the Arjuna Award in the year 2000 after he has sadly passed away.

• He was given the honour of being a part of the torch run at the 1982 Asian Games.

• The wrestling center that was built for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi was named after KD Jadhav.