Sandeep Tomar Biography, Age, Awards, Achievements, Net Worth -

Sandeep Tomar is an Indian wrestler who participates in the Men’s Freestyle 55 kg event. The wrestler from Uttar Pradesh has got a history of winning medals at every international competition. He is probably the first name that will run to an Indian’s mind when talking about Indian wrestlers at Rio 2016.

EARLY LIFE

When Sandeep Tomar placed his first step on the mitti akhara, it was unavoidable that he will end up being an Olympian one day as he belongs to Malakpur, a village which has comparatively produced more Olympians than any other village in India. Despite all the difficulties, he just focused on what is ahead of him & believed that it is the greatest challenge of his journey. He toiled hard and worked each day to fulfill his dream.

PERSONAL LIFE

Sandeep Tomar was born on 02 April 1991, in Malakpur village, Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh, India. Belonging to a village where people’s heart beats for wrestling, Sandeep Tomar also took up the sport at an early age. Malakpur has three akhadas with mud pitch and they are almost 15 square feet in size. People from other villages also used to come to Malakpur for their training and many of them have bagged titles of Bharat Kesari & Hind Kesari. Sandeep has also been trained on one of those famous akhadas. Like his fellow villagers, his family also had a tradition in wrestling. Tomar’s grandfather was a heavyweight wrestler & his father is a former kabaddi player and a wrestler. Inspired by his grandfather and father, little Sandeep went to Tomar. But initially his father didn’t allow him to go to akhada but after realizing his true interest for the sport, he encouraged him.

Tomar practiced for long hours. He even won his first dangal and achieved Rs 14 as prize money. The little Sandeep handed over his first achievement to his father who supported him. Since then, his father never stopped Sandeep from wrestling.

PROFESSIONAL LIFE

At the age of 12, Sandeep Tomar started wrestling. The head coach of the local akhara, Iqbal Singh, coached Sandeep in his initial time. Iqbal prepared him & taught him wrestling techniques. He even took Sandeep to various tournaments at the district & state levels. At a point, kabaddi started attracting more people than wrestling and Iqbal pipped his hopes on Sandeep Tomar to reverse that trend.

After attaining his victory in the sub-junior nationals 2008, the wrestler decided to further practice on the mat. A used mat was bought for him as his village has only mud pits. Tomar practiced on the mat by placing it inside a room and it was removed after his practice sessions.

His wrestling career took an excellent turn when he met Kuldeep, a Navy Coach. While the wrestler was training for the bout for the senior nationals, Kuldeep asked Tomar to switch his category from 50 kg to 55 kg for his competition. Without a second thought, Sandeep did it and ended up winning a gold medal. Ever since the wrestler started training under Kuldeep, he focused on Sandeep, guiding him to improve his techniques which gradually made him a better wrestler. He also helped Sandeep to get a job in the Navy. His job helped him to meet the expenses of diet & training.

Sandeep’s first international tournament was in 2012 Rio where he secured the first position after defeating 10 wrestlers. He has participated in a total of nine international competitions in the 57 kg discipline and Sandeep has never returned his home without a medal.

The wrestler’s greatest strength is the ability to precede the attack from the word “GO”.

ACHIEVEMENTS