Mallakhamb: Ancient sport wooing overseas millennials

With the Indian martial arts garnering lots of attention abroad, Mumbai played host to the sport’s first world championships

MUMBAI: Eight days ago, England’s Alfie Neeson, who is on a world trip, had not even heard the word ‘mallakhamb’. Then he met a mallakhamb coach at his friend’s place here and his life changed. On Saturday, the 24-year-old represented England in the inaugural Vishwa Mallakhamb Championships (mallakhamb world championships) at Shivaji Park. For someone with only a week’s training in the sport, he put up a pretty admirable show.

Neeson was not alone.

There were around 50 young foreign competitors from countries like Germany, USA, France and Italy who came into contact with this ancient Indian sport by sheer coincidence, but took to it like a duck takes to water and went on to represent their nations in the two-day event that concluded on Sunday.

USA’S Ariel Whitney wanted to become a gymnast until one fine day six months ago she bumped into some young mallakhamb players during her trip to Nashik. A month of training and she decided to leave gymnastics to concentrate fully on the Indian sport.

“Before coming here I didn’t know a game like this existed. But within a month of my introduction to the sport, I figured out that I should do mallakhamb. My body tells me I can always get more out of mallakhamb. I had done a bit of wrestling in school but I like mallakhamb more because here you are fighting with a pole which does nothing unlike a person who will fight back,” gushed the 16-year-old girl from Oregon, currently in India as part of a cultural exchange programme.

YOGA CONNECT

One of the reasons mallakhamb has a growing fan following in the west appears to be its similarities with yoga, which is a big industry overseas. For many young overseas practitioners of mallakhamb, the sport is akin to

doing yoga on a pole or rope.

“From outside, it looks as if one is practising different asanas of yoga on a pole and since everyone in the west wants to do yoga, they can’t hold back the temptation of doing yoga on a pole,” said a coach of the French team.

Germany’s Sebastian Cremmer echoed the sentiments. “It’s nice because it is some kind of yoga. You need balance and dynamism. I feel relaxed doing it,” said the 22-year-old, who along with Mayur Dalal — an Indian student who lives in Ger-

LOVE FROM GERMANY

In fact, Germany has a national mallakhamb federation. The sport is becoming popular among youngsters in the country, said Ruth Anzenberger, who holds the distinction as the first certified mallakhamb coach from outside India.

“I have been practising it for the last 15 years. I did my first camp when I was nine. Uday (Deshpande, a renowned coach) was conducting a camp in Germany and my mom took me there. I fell in love with the sport immediately and by the time I turned 15, I had started teaching mallakhamb to kids back home. I did a mallakhamb coaching course when I was 17 and became the first coach outside India,” said the 24-year-old woman. Ruth, who has brought a bunch of German kids to give them exposure in mallakhamb here, believes time is ripe to take the sport to every country in the world. “It’s not only a game but a way to stay healthy. Mallakhamb should spread across the world. It has so many advantages for young kids. Today young people have so many lifestyle diseases. Playing mallakhamb can help them remain fit,” she concluded.