panchanan-byam-samity

West Bengal Wrestling Association

West Bengal Wrestling Association was initially formed as West Bengal Wrestling Federation in the year 1948. Its first president was Sachindranath Bandhopadhay – Register, High Court, and it’s first Honourable General Secretary was Sudhir Saha. Before the year 1948, all state associations were under the umbrella of Bengal Olympic Association.

Prior to 1947, the following professional wrestlers made the state proud:

  • Badra Sai Palwan.
  • Gobor Goho.
  • Nandalal Saha.
  • Moula Palwan.
  • Bhim Bhawani.
  • Bonomali Ghosh.
  • Ram Dhari.
  • Chedha Singh.

Famous Bengali personalities who wrestled

  • Ramakrishna Paramahansa.
  • Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar.
  • Rabindra Nath Tagore.
  • Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.
  • Pranabanando ji Maharaj.

President’s of West Bengal Wrestling Association

  • Sachindranath Bandhopadhay.
  • Radhapado Chattoraj.
  • Pankaj Gupta (General Secretary, Indian Olympic Association).
  • H.N. Mukherjee.
  • R Poddar .
  • Goutam Ghosh.

General Secretaries of West Bengal Wrestling Association

  • Sudhir Chandra Saha (International Coach/Judge/Referee/ Represented India as a Judge/Referee in the 1964 Olympic Games).
  • Nirmal Bose (Olympian 1948 and 1952).
  • Asit Kumar Saha (International Coach/International Judge/Referee/ Vice President, Wrestling Federation of India, Represent India as a Coach at XXI Commonwealth Games Gold Coast 2018).

Coaches of West Bengal Wrestling Association

  • Nandalal Saha.
  • Sushil Saha.
  • Sudhir Saha.
  • Gupteswar Misra.
  • Naresh Chandra Saha.
  • Asit Kumar Saha.
  • Runu Ghoroy.

West Bengal produced a number of Olympians and National Champions during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Unfortunately, due to World War II, a number of wrestlers were not able to participate in the Olympic Games. The Olympic training camp for 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games was held at the Panchanan Bayam Samity under the guidance of Sudhir Saha, Sushil Saha, and G Misra. India’s first individual medal winner K.D. Jaghav attended both camps and was placed 6th in the 1948 Olympic Games and 3rd in the 1952 Olympic Games.

Bengal’s own:

  • Nirmal Bose represented India in the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games.
  • K.P. Rai (India’s first NIS Coach) represented India in the 1948 Olympic Games.
  • Niranjan Das represented India in the 1952 Olympic Games.
  • In the year 1953 – The Wrestling team of Japan visited Kolkata. A bilateral competition was held between the Japan Wrestling team and Panchanan Bayam Samity at the Ranji Stadium (Eden Gardens). Two wrestlers from Panchanan Bayam Samity – Shyam Sundar Chatterjee and Brindavan Ojha won their respective bouts by defeating the Japanese wrestlers.
  • Several other wrestlers during that time from West Bengal represented India.
  • In the first ever 1951 Asian Games – Jogeswar Singh secured 5th Place.
  • In the year 1953 Shyam Sundar Chatterjee represented India at the World Youth Festival in Bucharest.
  • In the year 1958 – Rabin Hazra won gold in the India Ceylon Meet.
  • B.B. Roy and Goho were FILA members.

It is also to be noted that Greco-Roman wrestling started in India in Kolkata in the year 1964 under the guidance of Sudhir Saha. The first Greco-Roman wrestling match was held at the house of Jamindar Manmathanath Ghosh in Pathuriaghata Street. In the year 1965 at Kolhapur, Greco – Roman wrestling competition was first held at the National level.

The West Bengal Wrestling Association also organized a bilateral competition with the Bangladesh National team in the year 2008 and 2012 in Kolkata and Barasat respectively. In the year 2009, the competition was held in Dhaka.

The West Bengal Wrestling Association organized the All India School Games – Wrestling in the 80’s at Salt Lake.


The West Bengal Wrestling Association organized the 3rd South Asian Federation Games – Wrestling at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in 1987.


The West Bengal Wrestling Association also organized the Senior National Wrestling Championship in Kolkata after a gap of 73 years in 2013.

Some of the famous personalities who had a lot of love and passion for wrestling.

swami-vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda

netaji-subhash-chandra-bose

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Baghajatin: Jatindranath Mukherjee

Some of the Renowned Celebrities and Legends having also love for Wrestling

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Mahanayak Uttam Kumar

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Legendary Singer Manna Dey

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Mithun Chakraborty