Sikandar Shaikh: Maharashtra Kesari 2023 Winner

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Sikandar Shaikh Maharashtra Kesari 2023 Winner

Maharashtra Kesari Competition was recently held in Pune. In this, the wrestler Shivraj Rakshe won the silver mace which is considered as honor in Maharashtra Kesari tournament.

But even after the final match of Maharashtra Kesari, the semi-final of this competition is currently being discussed on social media.

This wrestler Sikandar Sheikh was defeated by Mahendra Gaikwad in the semi finals. But a whirlwind of controversy has been created on this match.

In the semi-final, Sikander was treated unfairly by the umpires, the content of which is being discussed on social media. Let’s also know who Sikandar Sheikh is and why this semi-final is being talked about.

Sikandar Shaikh enters wrestling training

22-year-old Sikandar Sheikh is a wrestler at Gangavesh Talamit in Kolhapur. Sikandar came into the limelight after beating many great wrestlers at an early age.

Sikandar’s native village is Mohol village in Solapur district. His parents and elder brother still live there. Sikandar’s wrestling training started from Mohol itself. His parents encouraged him to become a wrestler despite the poor financial situation at home. Sikandar’s father Rashid Sheikh was a wrestler himself. But due to the financial situation, they started working.

When Sikandar was nine-ten years old, he started his wrestling training in Phate Talami in Mohol. Speaking to BBC Marathi, Sikander shared more about his journey so far.

“Chandrakant Kale was my guardian in Mohol. For the first time, I was in Phate Taalim. After that, Siddha Nagesh went to Talami. It was my parents’ decision to send me to Talim. My father was a good wrestler. He took this decision. From the beginning, our financial situation was dire.

He quit wrestling when he reached his thirties. But when they were wrestling, they were also attacking. “There was no money for food and water, so they used to attack each other while wrestling,” Sikandar said.

Starting from 2018, Palawani started from Kolhapur

Sikandar’s practice started in Mohol. But there were no wrestlers equal to him. The rest of the children were small. So Sikandar’s father and his guardians decided to send him to Gangavesh Talami in Kolhapur. He was eighteen years old then.

According to Sikandar, his real wrestling started with Gangavesh’s training.

“My proper diet started from the time I joined Gangavesh Talami. Vishwas Hargule is my coach. After coming here, I won my first tournament in 2018,” Sikandar said.

In 2018, Sikandar won the local wrestling competition in Kolhapur district. In this he defeated some famous wrestlers. He got a bullet car and one lakh rupees as the prize of this competition.

Eight days after this, wrestling competitions were held in Barshi taluka of Solapur district. Alexander was victorious in this too. After this he started competing in wrestling competitions in the state and in Punjab, Haryana.

He also won Mahan Bharat Kesari in 2020. According to Sikandar, he has participated in nearly 200 competitions so far.

“In the beginning of 2019, I won the gold medal. I won medals in state level, national competitions. By now I must have played at least 200-250 tournaments. I participated in Georgia under-23 at the international level,” Sikandar said.

Financial prosperity at home with victories in wrestling

A series of victories in wrestling tournaments also changed the financial situation of Sikandar’s house. Sikander says that now there is peace in the house.

“When I was in training, the family situation was dire. They used to feed me by beating their stomachs. Father used to give me the money of one hundred and two hundred rupees daily from the porter. In the year 2017-2018, they had to endure a lot of hardships.

He had such a strong dream of wrestling me that he was not even paying attention to his own food. All the money collected was given to me for food. Now the condition of the house has improved. Parents are happy. I have improved the situation now.”

First my father had a bicycle. He used to cycle. Now father has so many cars that he has to decide which car to use. If they use a car, the number of that car does not come for a month. Built a house. took place took the farm Also bought a flat in Pune. Now there is no need for the father to attack,” Sikandar said.

Dream of winning Maharashtra Kesari

In January 2023, the Maharashtra Kesari Competition was held in Pune. Sikandar reached the semi finals in this tournament. He fought against wrestler Mahendra Gaikwad in the semi-finals of the clay division. Sikandar was defeated in this fight. A discussion was started by his supporters on social media that Sikandar was defeated due to the wrong decision given by the umpires.

After this fight, Sikandar also responded to the media. “I am not paying attention to what happened in Maharashtra Kesari. All I can say is that what happened went wrong,” Sikander told BBC Marathi.

Although Sikandar had to exit the Maharashtra KSP competition in the semi-finals, Sikandar said that next year he will enter the Maharashtra Kesari competition with full preparation.

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“Now all our focus is to win the Maharashtra Kesari tournament. Now I will relax for the next two months. Then the village season will begin. Then I will season for two months. For the next eight-nine months, I will focus only on the practice of Maharashtra Kesari. Maharashtra Kesari is the Olympics of Maharashtra. So winning the Maharashtra Kesari competition has been my dream since childhood,” said Sikandar.

He also said that he wants to win the Maharashtra Kesari Competition and participate in the Hind Kesari Competition.

Wrestling matches in Punjab, Haryana

Sikandar has also competed with wrestlers from Punjab and Haryana. He played two seasons of wrestling in that area. He staged matches with famous players like Hindkesari wrestler Gaurav Machhiwala, wrestler Satnam Singh.

Sikandar said that wrestlers get more facilities in Punjab and Haryana than in Maharashtra. That is why the wrestlers there are ahead of the wrestlers of Maharashtra, he said.

“I won Mahan Bharat Kesari in Haryana, Punjab. I played there for two seasons. The wrestlers there are very good. The number 2-3 wrestler there is the opposite of our number one wrestler.

Haryana Punjab is far ahead of Maharashtra in wrestling. We don’t get facilities for wrestlers. Stadiums, good quality mats are not available for practice,” Sikandar said.