Google Doodle honours Indian wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav

Google Doodle: The 97th birthday of Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, the first sportsperson from independent India to win an Olympic medal, falls on January 15. The wrestler, popularly known as the “Pocket Dynamo,” is remembered in today’s Google Doodle.

Jadhav won a bronze medal at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 by defeating competitors from Germany, Mexico, and Canada. The Maharaj of Kolhapur, however, had already seen the wrestler’s talent before to 1952. He made the choice to pay for Jadhav’s participation in the 1948 London Olympics. Jadhav’s sixth-place finish was the best ever for an Indian wrestler at the time, despite the fact that he wasn’t accustomed to the rules of international wrestling and was up against wrestlers with extensive experience.

Early in his career, he is believed to have been one of the top athletes because to his deft approach and light feet. With instruction from his father (who was also a wrestler) and other professional wrestlers, Jadhav had also amassed a number of state and national titles. Jadhav’s knee injury prevented him from continuing his wrestling career after the Helsinki Olympics victory. Later, he was employed as a policeman.

After his passing in 1984, the Maharashtra government presented him with a posthumous Chhatrapati Puraskar. He also had the wrestling venue for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi named after him.