Udey Chand (born 25 June 1935) is a retired

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 ...

n wrestler and wrestling coach who was the first individual world championship medal winner from

independent India Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...

. He was awarded the first

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

in wrestling in 1961, by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

Early life

Chand was born on 25 June 1935 in Jandli village of

Hisar district Hisar district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana, India. Hisar city serves as the district headquarters. Hisar district has four sub-divisions that is, Hisar, Barwala, Hansi and Narnaud, each headed by an SDM. The district is also part of H ...

and currently resides in Hisar.

Career

He started his career with the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

. He created history by winning a bronze medal in Light Weight (67 kg) Freestyle at

1961 World Wrestling Championships The 1961 World Wrestling Championships were held in Yokohama, Japan. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco-Roman ReferencesFILA Database {{DEFAULTSORT:1961 Fila Wrestling World Championships World Wrestlin ...

at Yokohama. During his bout against the eventual world champion Mahamed-Ali Sanatkaran he was particularly unlucky as referees judged his throwing down of the opponent outside the area and the bout ended in a 1–1 draw. For his achievements he was conferred the first

in wrestling in 1961 by President of India,.Arjun Award Winners for "Wrestling"
, '' Ministry of Youth Welfare & Sports,

Official Website'' He participated in three

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

namely

Rome 1960 Rome 1960 may refer to: * The 1960 Summer Olympics, held in Rome, Italy * The 1960 Summer Paralympics The 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games, retroactively designated as the 1960 Summer Paralympics ( it, Giochi paralimpici estivi del ...

Tokyo 1964 The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

Mexico City 1968 The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

and finished with a creditable 6th Rank in Mexico City. He took part twice in

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

winning two silver medals in 70 kg

Freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

as well as 70 kg

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

1962 Asian Games ) , Host city = Jakarta, Indonesia , Nations participating = 17 , Athletes participating = 1,460 , Events = 120 in 13 sports , Opening ceremony = 24 August 1962 , Closing ceremony = 4 September 1962 , ...

Jakarta and won a bronze medal in 70 kg Freestyle at

1966 Asian Games The 1966 Asian Games (), also known as the V Asiad, were a continental multi-sport event that was held from 9 to 20 December 1966, in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 142 events in 16 sports were contested by athletes during the games. Taiwan and Isr ...

Bangkok. In addition to these he participated in four different world wrestling championships i.e. Yokohama 1961, Manchester 1965, Delhi 1967 and Edmonton 1970. He signed off his glittering career with a befitting gold medal at

1970 British Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games (Scottish Gaelic: Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis Bhreatainn 1970) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first tim ...

held at Edinburgh, Scotland.Medal tally by sport
''

Commonwealth Games Federation The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), currently known as Commonwealth Sport, is the international organisation responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games, and is governing body of the ...

Official Website'' He remained an undisputed national champion in India from 1958 to 1970.

Later life

After retiring from

he joined

Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University is a public funded agricultural university located at Hisar in the Indian state of Haryana. It is the biggest agricultural university in Asia. The university has of land (around at ma ...

, Hisar as a coach and rendered his services from 1970 to 1996. During his time as coach he groomed many international level wrestlers and guided the university team to many All Indian Inter University Championship triumphs. Currently he lives in Hisar and still actively assists budding wrestlers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chand, Udey 1935 births Living people People from Hisar district Indian wrestling coaches Olympic wrestlers of India Wrestlers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Indian male sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Indian Army personnel Sport wrestlers from Haryana Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Recipients of the Arjuna Award Asian Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 1962 Asian Games Wrestlers at the 1966 Asian Games World Wrestling Championships medalists Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Commonwealth Games medallists in wrestling Medalists at the 1962 Asian Games Medalists at the 1966 Asian Games Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games