Maha Singh Rao (born 1 July 1958) is a wrestler and wrestling coach from

Chirawa Chirawa is a municipal town and tehsil in Jhunjhunu district of Shekhawati region in Rajasthan state of India. Its elevation is above sea level. See also * Jhunjhunu district Jhunjhunu district is a district of the Indian state of Rajast ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. In 2006, he was awarded the

Dronacharya Award The Dronacharya Award, officially known as Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, is sports coaching honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Drona, often referred as "Dronacharya" or "Guru Drona", a ...

, the highest award of the land in the field of coaching of sports and athletics, He born in Rao family of Ghadana Khurd Village in District

Jhunjhunu Jhunjhunu is a city and capital of Jhunjhunu district in the state of Rajasthan. This city is in the northern state of Rajasthan, India and the administrative headquarters of Jhunjhunu District. History Jhunjhunu is a very old and historical ...

of Rajsthan. by the government of India.

Early life

He was the fourth son out of a family of 6 children born to Bhana Ram Rao and Mohri devi in a small village Ghardana Khurd in Jhunjhunu

. After attaining his primary education in the same village he proceeded on to high school in

Khetri Khetri Nagar is the town in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan in India. It is a part of the Shekhawati region. Khetri consists of two towns, "Khetri Town" founded by Raja Khet Singhji Nirwan and "Khetri Nagar" which is about 10 km away f ...

and then graduated in Mathematics from Chirawa college, Chirawa in

in 1980. His marriage was solemnised to Mrs Santosh on 15 June 1983. Though he was lured to wrestling from the very childhood, his parents asked him to continue studies. Abiding by his parents advice he went on to get his Masters in Economics during 1981 to 1984 from

Rajasthan University University of Rajasthan is a public and state university in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India and is one of the oldest universities in the state. It was set up on 8 January 1947 as the University of Rajputana and was given its current name in 1956. ...

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...

. In 1985 he moved to the nearby Chirawa town and settled there. Pressed by his interest in wrestling he simultaneously kept practicing lest he should lose touch with the sport. Meanwhile he obtained a diploma in wrestling from the national institute of sports in 1982-83. Until then he was a national level wrestler in the country representing the state of Rajasthan but later jumped on to training

pehlwani Pehlwani, (पहलवानी) also known as Kushti, is a form of wrestling contested in South Asia. It was developed in the Mughal Empire by combining Persian Koshti pahlevani with influences from native Indian Malla-yuddha. The words '' ...

Career

After finishing his studies he joined the Sports Authority of India as a Wrestling Coach. He started training disciples in both freestyle wrestling and Indian style also known as

. His initial posting was in Guru Hanuman Akhara in New Delhi which was at that time being managed by Guru Hanuman, a legendary figure in the Indian style of wrestling. Maha Singh started training the budding pehlwans under the able guidance of Guru Hanuman. He was briefly transferred to Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan but soon was sent back to Delhi where he is currently training wrestlers in the Guru Hanuman Akhara in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

. After the demise of Guru Hanuman in May 1999 the whole responsibility of managing and training the young wrestlers came down on Maha singh. Recognising his potential he was sent by the Government of India to attend th
international coaching course
in Budapest, Hungary in 2005. The course is conducted by the Universitas Budapestinesis de semmelweis nominata and is recognised by the international Olympic council for Olympic solidarity. Later he was selected for the prestigious Dronacharya Award for the year 2005. Many of his disciples have won national and international titles including the prestigious Arjun Award. Notables include Sandeep kumar Rathi (Bharat Kesri), Rajiv Tomar ( Hind Kesri and Arjun Award Winner), Anuj Chaudhary ( Arjun Award Winner), Sujeet maan ( Arjun Award Winner). Rajiv Tomar won the gold medal in the commonwealth games in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Maha Singh 1958 births Indian male sport wrestlers Sportspeople from Rajasthan Recipients of the Dronacharya Award University of Rajasthan alumni Rajasthani people Living people Indian wrestling coaches People from Jhunjhunu district