Khashaba jadhav biography templates

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav aka KD Jadhav was an Indian boxer and wrestler. He was popular by his nickname “Pocket Dynamo”. He won a bronze medal in theSummer Olympics of 1952. With this, he made himselfthe first Indian to win an Olympic medal for independent India. Google honored him with a special doodle which was customized by his picture. Jadhav's success inspired many people in India.

In this article, we are going to discuss the achievements and life of Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav in detail.

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav: The Pocket Dynamo

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav or "pocket dynamo" was an Indian athlete boxer. He achieved fame by winning a bronze medal in wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics. Before Jadhav, India had only won gold in field hockey, a team sport. Despite his achievements, Jadhav never received a Padma Award. He stood out among his peers for his exceptional speed and agility, which caught the attention of English coach Rees Gardner before the 1948 Olympics. Jadhav hailed from the village of Goleshwar near Karad. In 2000, he was posthumously awarded the Arjuna Award for his significant contributions to wrestling.

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav - Early Life and Death

Khashaba D Jadhav was born as the youngest son of wrestler Dadasaheb Jadhav. He was born in Go

Recalls Ranjit Jhadhav, his only son, "When Baba wanted some financial help for his journey to the Helsinki Olympics, he received a cold snub from (then Bombay chief minister) Morarji Desai, asking him to contact them after the Games."

The same leader garlanded the victorious Khashaba when he returned from Helsinki at a function organised in Bombay.

In search of a true hero�

My search for Khashaba Jhadhav, bronze medalist at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, began when the editor left a note at my desk asking me to track down India's first individual Olympic medalist.

I thought it would be an easy job since K D Jhadhav was in the Maharashtra police force for close to 25 years. A phone call later, I realised that surprise would be my accomplice on this journey.

Very few men in uniform have heard of their illustrious comrade at Naigaum in Mumbai. They were completely unaware of the fact that the sports ground in the police premises is named after the legendary Olympian, as is the lane adjacent to the Naigaum police station.

"His wife came here many times asking for her son to be recruited in the force, but to no avail. None of the senior officers heeded her repeated requests," said one officer who finally managed to give me the family's address and a Marathi newspaper article featuring Jhadhav -- my only source of information on the unsung hero.

After an overnight journey to Karad in western Maharashtra, we were surprised to find that the name Khashaba Jhadhav drew blank faces. The ignorance wasn't restricted; it was ubiquitous.

A hop to the Karad police station further followed the same pattern.

Af

Indian wrestler (1925–1984)

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav (15 January 1925 – 14 August 1984) was an Indian freestyle wrestler. He is best known for winning a bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He was the first athlete from independent India to win an individual medal in the Olympics.

After Norman Pritchard who won two silver medals in athletics in 1900 under colonial India, Khashaba was the first individual athlete from independent India to win a medal at the Olympics. In the years before Khashaba, India would only win gold medals in field hockey, a team sport. He is the only Indian Olympic medalist who never received a Padma Award. Khashaba was extremely nimble on his feet, which made him different from other wrestlers of his time. English coach Rees Gardner saw this trait in him and trained him prior to the 1948 Olympic games. He belonged to Goleshwar village near Karad. He was posthumously awarded Arjuna Award in 2000 for his contribution to wrestling.

Childhood

Born in a village called Goleshwar in Karad taluka of District Satara in Maharashtra State, KD Jadhav was the youngest of five sons of a renowned wrestler Dadasaheb Jadhav. He did his schooling in Tilak High School in Karad taluka of Satara district between 1940 and 1947. He grew up in a household that lived and breathed wrestling. He participated in the Quit India Movement providing shelter and a hiding place to the revolutionaries, circulating letters against the British were some of his contributions to the movement. He resolved to unfurl the tricolor flag in Olympic on Independence Day 15 August 1947.

Wrestling career

His father Dadasaheb was a wrestling coach and he initiated Khashaba into wrestling at the age of five. His wrestling mentors in college were Baburao Balawde and Belapuri Guruji.

Starting his wrestling career in 1948, he first came into the limelight at the 19