The Oldest Wrestling School of India-Guru Hanuman Akhara

Guru Hanuman Akhara that comes under Wrestling Federation of India was established in 1925 and is the epicenter of the ancient wrestling tradition in India. It is the oldest akhara existing in India till now located at Shakti Nagar in New Delhi that has produced National and International wrestlers for India.

Guru Hanuman Akhara has produced wrestlers like Dara Singh, Guru Satpal, Sushil Kumar, Yogendra Kumar, Anuj Chowdhary, Rajiv Tomer, Anil Mann, Sujit Mann, Naveen, Rakesh Goonga and many others.
The club was named after the legendary Indian wrestler, Guru Hanuman, who was born in Chidwa village in 1901 in Western Rajasthan. Hanuman was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honours and he was the recipient of the Shree Dronacharya Award, a prize named after the mythical sage warrior which is reserved for sports coaches. Hanuman died in a car accident at Partapur,Meerut in 1999.

More than 100 boys are enrolled and some are outstation students coming from different states of India that live in the akhara.The boys have been divided into teams and each team is given the responsibility of cleaning, cooking, washing, and other jobs. Once the boys get over with their wrestling exercises, they have to do rest of the household chores.

Two of Hanuman’s disciples won gold medals at the Asian Games in 1982 and 1986.Wrestlers of Guru Hanuman Akhara has given many awards to the nations such as 16 Arjuna Awards,3 Padma Shri and 5 Dronacharya Awards.