Khali brings wrestling to Haryana, govt waives entertainment tax

“This event is going to take place in Haryana for the first time. Incidentally, I met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Delhi earlier this year and I told him about our plans to promote wrestling in the state too. Haryana is the home of Indian wrestling and people support the sport in a big way. I belong to Himachal Pradesh, but I got zero support from the HP government despite meeting CM Virbhadra Singh. At my Jalandhar academy, we have more than 200 wrestlers from all over India wherein wrestlers from Haryana are the highest in terms of numbers. So it will also be an opportunity for them to showcase their talent,” said Khali.

Originally a native of Dhirana village in Himachal’s Sirmour district, the wrestler had shifted base to Jalandhar to join Punjab Police and started the CWE Training Academy near Jalandhar. The wrestler has organised matches in Uttrakhand and Ludhiana in the last one year and 16 wrestlers including wrestlers from abroad will take part in this year’s Haryana leg. “When I returned to India in 2015 after spending 10 years in WWE, we just had 2-3 wrestlers at our village. I wanted to give the wrestlers the same facilities and training which we got in USA. Last year, two of our trainees Satinder Dagar and Lovepreet signed contracts with WWE. The events in Haryana will see the participation of 16 wrestlers, four of whom are women. I too will be taking part in the event and anybody can challenge me. Wrestlers from USA, Puerto Rico and other countries will also feature in these two events. Those who term it as an entertainment, I want to say that it is also a sport and if I am able to encourage village kids and budding players to take up the sport and give up drugs, then I am successful,” said Khali, who made his debut in WWE wrestling in 2006.

While Uttrakhand government also waived off the entertainment tax on the event. Haryana too has done the same. Haryana Sports and Youth Minister Anil Vij while announcing this on Tuesday stated that the government will start the sports nurseries in the state on November 1.

“Haryana’s name is associated with wrestling and we support whoever comes to promote the sport. We have announced to waive off the entertainment tax on the two events.”

On the issue of the starting sports nurseries in the state, Vij said, “We will allot 20 nurseries in every district and we have got more than 1,000 applications for the sports nurseries till date. The state government will give Rs 1,500 stipend to players, equipment worth Rs 1.25 lakh to the school and private academies interested in running the nursery and coach’s pay. Besides that, we are also opening up Vyayamshala and Yogshalas in 1,000 villages with a budget of Rs 104 crore.”