PNN
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 30: The Indian sport of Mallakhamb, a treasure of Maharashtra, has been included as an exhibition sport in the 2028 Olympic Games to be held in the city of Los Angeles, USA. In this background, the USA Mallakhamb Federation has taken an important step in terms of promotion and training thereby touring Germany and Canada under the leadership of founder Chinmay Patankar.
In a press conference held in Mumbai a few months ago, the USA Mallakhamb Federation had stated the importance of its Olympic campaign. After that, regarding the efforts made in this regard at the global level, Patankar said, "There are six-seven countries which have the recognition of the World Mallakhamb Association. But except for India and America, the propaganda activities of other nations are limited. But we have been working fast since we got the status of an exhibition sport in the Olympics.
We are establishing contact with Marathi groups, Hindu organizations, Dhol-Tashe teams, etc. in various countries. As an important part of this, we had successful tours of Canada and Germany.
While giving information about the Canada tour, Patankar said, "We have fixed the period of Ganeshotsav for the Canada tour.
The contribution of Amit Tungare, a national pole vaulter from Ottawa, was significant. Many people had never seen Mallakhamb. There was no direction to the information about it. We explained to them the information about Mallakhamb's revolution in the last 30-40 years. Our main goal was to involve people in the age group of 8 to 50 years in the flow of Mallakhamb.”
Teams of boys and girls from America traveled by bus to Ottawa under the leadership of Patankar. The two-day performance there was awed by the audience. Around 1500 people attended the demonstration. It included 1,200 Canadians and 300 Indian citizens.
After the presentation, about the next direction of the campaign, Patankar said, "The audience here is impressed by the individual and team performances. So, it can be said that our campaign has failed. Now the training camp will start from November 1 under the guidance of Amit Tungare. After that, we will take a special coach in December.
Member of Parliament from Nepean, Canada, Chandra Arya felicitated the USA Mallakhamb Federation led by Patankar and was presented with a medal. Arya lauded the campaign of the USA Mallet Federation in the wake of the 2028 Olympics and wished them all the best.
Under the leadership of Veena Pawar, co-founder of Skyroute Media, Mallakhamb Prasar Abhiyan has started with enthusiasm in Germany. Mallakhamb's demonstrations in Munich, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt received an enthusiastic response. The time of Ganeshotsav was also chosen in these cities. Veena Pawar said about this,"We specially ordered mallakhamb from Poland to introduce mallakhamb in Germany. The support of coach Omkar Paranjape was very important for that. Prasad Bhalerao, Ajit Ranade, Yogesh Wadkar, Marathi people from Germany, gave wonderful cooperation for the Mallakhamb demonstration.
Veena Pawar, informed about the response to Mallakhamb in the German city, said, "The performance of Mallakhamb by the American team was eye-catching. This response was unexpected. The demand to teach Mallakhamb as a sport to our children also started getting stronger. We are planning for that.
This delegation of the Mallakhamb Mission recently met the Indian Embassy in Germany. Veena Pawar said, "This meeting was an inspiration for us. Amit Telang, an officer of the embassy, guided how Mallakhamb can be propagated in Germany. Yoga, gymnastics, etc. sports are rooted in Germany. Telang said that there will be no problem in the spread of Mallakhamb.
The next step of the Mallakhamb campaign is vigorous!
The further progress of the Mallakhamb campaign is going on in full swing. We have prepared an action plan in the wake of the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Chinmay Patankar, head of the USA Mallakhamb Federation said that we will take up the work in the African continent only after achieving the goal of bringing Mallakhamb sports to the countries of five European, five Asian and five American continents.
We are also going to tour the Netherlands, which is a neighboring country of Germany to spread the message. The guidance of Parag Vartak, Omkar Paranjape and Nidhi Joshi will be important there. There we are going to focus mainly on Rope Mallakhamb," said Veena Pawar.
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