PANAJI: The registrations for the 2022 season of Pro Panja, India’s first-ever arm-wrestling competition, kicked off on February 16th (Thursday) and saw massive participation from arm wrestlers in India. On the first day of the registration, 309 arm wrestlers from all parts of India entered their names for the competition, comprising of around 236 men, 62 women, and 11 specially-abled athletes, states a press release.
With the current trend of athletes signing up for the competition continuing over the past week, Pro Panja expects approximately 1000-1500 arm-wrestlers from all around India to enter their names for the 2022 edition of the Pro Panja League by March 15th, when the registrations come to a close.
Pro Panja co-founder, Parvin Dabas expressed delight at the response from arm wrestlers across India and said that it is an indication of the ever-growing popularity of the sport in India.
“We at the Pro Panja League were always expecting a good response for our first show in 2022 after having done four warm-up events. But the registrations on the first day were positively overwhelming,” Dabas said.
“It has shown us the huge level of support Pro Panja League has garnered amongst India’s arm wrestling community. It has also indicated that there is huge excitement among Panja fighters regarding the competition, as they are finally getting an opportunity to take part in an international standard Arm Wrestling event in their own country,” he added.
Pro Panja was launched in 2020 with then Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and Olympic boxer Vijender Singh participating in an exhibition match to kick off the event.
Through the Pro-Panja League, Dabas and Preeti Jhangiani are formalising an immensely popular past-time sport in India and giving a platform to Panja players from across the country, to not only build a name but also benefit financially. With a long-term vision of ensuring the popularity and commercial viability of the sport, the league will follow a franchise-based league format this year, along with mega matches and ranking tournaments. The aim is also to make the sport as inclusive as possible with a specially-abled competition category.
