‘Banned’ wrestler Narsingh gets a place in UP’s only ‘Hall of Fame’
LUCKNOW : People may have forgotten wrestler Narsingh Yadav, who was banned for four years after he failed a dope test by testing positive for anabolic steroids days before boarding the flight for the 2016 Rio Olympics, he is still the pride of Uttar Pradesh.
Varanasai’s Narsingh, who had a gold at the Asian Championship and also at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, is one of the Arjuna awardees from the state and his portrait is on display at the UP’s first-ever ‘Hall of Fame’, which was officially inaugurated at the regional centre of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Monday.
Other players whose portraits are on display include Zafar Iqbal, Devesh Chauhan, Alka Tomar, Anuraj Singh, Rachna Govil, Madhuri Saxena, Anuj Kumar Chaudhary, Jagbeer Singh, Sudha Singh, Dalveer Singh Rathore, Vijay Singh Chauhan, Sunil Kumar Rana, Mukhtiyar Singh, Prem Maya, Gulab Chand, Jagmandar Singh, Bahadur Prasad, Mohinder Pal Singh, Akram Shah, Rajeev Tomar, Anwar Sultan, Ramkaran Singh, Satyendra Kumar, Dharmendra Singh Yadav, Sanjeev Kumar, Vivek Singh, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Ashok Kumar, Praveen Kumar Oberoi, Shokendra Tomar, Jeetu Rai, Prashant Singh, Narsingh Yadav, Ranveer Singh, Padam Bahadur Mall, Jaspal Rana, Surendra Singh Waldia, Harshvanti Bisht, Surendra Singh Kanwasi, JC Joshi, Harish Singh Rawat, Chandra Prabha Atwal and Haridunt Kapari.
A symbol of tribute to great sportspersons, the ‘Hall of Fame’ has a separate wall for hockey legends like Major Dhyanchand, KD Singh Babu, Mohd Shahid, Jaman Lal Sharma and Syed Ali at the billiards hall.
Secretary, sports, government of India, Rahul Bhatnagar inaugurated the ‘Hall of Fame’ and even tried his hand on the newly-laid billiards table though he couldn’t succeed in potting the cue ball even in two attempts.
Earlier, SAI’s executive director Rachna Govil had submitted a proposal worth Rs 20 crore for infrastructure development at the centre. The proposal includes construction of 100-bed hostel or national campers, repairing of floor of multipurpose hall, upgradation of Kashipur centre, sewerage treatment plant, repairing of wrestling hall and construction of a new room in medical centre.
“He (Bhatnagar) was quite impressed with the cleanliness of the centre and the quality of food being supplied to national campers here,” said a SAI official on condition of anonymity.
Bhatnagar later visited Mohanlalganj area where country’s second sports university is likely to come up. The central government has already approved the setting up of a sports university after the first one in Imphal (Manipur).
He also laid the foundation stone for the construction of boys/girls hostel at the UP Badminton Academy in Gomti Nagar. The central government has reportedly sanctioned Rs 5 crore for this purpose.