The Great Gama
Ghulam Mohammad Baksh (22 May 1878 – 23 May 1960),
better known by the ring name The Great Gama, was a wrestler in British
India and later Pakistan.
Born in Amritsar in 1878, he was awarded the Indian
version of the World Heavyweight Championship on 15 October 1910.
Undefeated in a career spanning more than 52 years, he is considered one of the
greatest wrestlers of all time.
Early life
Gama was born in the city of Amritsar into a family
of wrestlers, in what was then the Punjab region of British
India. He hailed from a prominent wrestling family which was known to
produce world-class wrestlers. Gama had two wives: one in Pakistan and the
other in Baroda, Gujarat, India. His granddaughter Kalsoom Nawaz
Sharif is a three-time First Lady of Pakistan.
After the death of his wrestler-father Muhammad Aziz Baksh
when he was six, Gama was put under the care of his maternal grandfather and
wrestler Nun Pahalwan. Following his death, Gama was taken care of by his uncle
Ida, another wrestler, who also began training Gama in wrestling. He was first
noticed at the age of ten, in 1888, when he entered a strongman competition
held in Jodhpur, which included many gruelling exercises such as squats.
The contest was attended by more than four hundred wrestlers and Gama was among
the last fifteen, and was named by winner by the Maharaja of Jodhpur due to his
young age. Gama was subsequently taken into training by the Maharaja
of Datia.
Career
Training and diet
Gama's daily training consisted of grappling with forty of
his fellow wrestlers in the court. He used to do five thousand Baithaks
(squats) and three thousand Dands (pushups).Gama's daily diet was 4 gallons (15
litres) of milk, a pound and a half of crushed almond paste made into a
tonic drink along with fruit juice and other ingredients to promote good
digestion. This high protein and high energy diet helped him accumulate muscle
mass.
First encounter with Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala
Fame came to Gama at the age of 17 when he challenged
then-Indian Wrestling Champion, middle-aged Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala,
another Muslim wrestler from Gujranwala, now in Punjab,
Pakistan. At about 7 feet tall, with a very impressive win-loss record, Raheem
was expected to easily defeat the 5'7" Gama. Raheem's only drawback was
his age as he was much older than Gama, and near the end of his career. The
bout continued for hours and eventually ended in a draw. The contest with
Raheem was the turning point in Gama's career. After that, he was looked upon
as the next contender for the Indian Wrestling Championship. In the first
bout Gama remained defensive, but in the second bout, Gama went on the
offensive. Despite severe bleeding from his nose and ears, he managed to deal
out a great deal of damage to Raheem Bakhsh. By 1910, Gama had defeated all the
prominent Indian wrestlers who faced him except the champion, Raheem Bakhsh
Sultani Wala. At this time, he focused his attention on the rest of the world.
Accompanied by his younger brother Imam Bakhsh, Gama sailed to England to
compete with the Western Wrestlers but could not gain instant entry, because of
his lower height.
In London, Gama issued a challenge that he could throw any
three wrestlers in thirty minutes of any weight class. This announcement
however was seen as a bluff by the wrestlers and their wrestling promoter R. B.
Benjamin. For a long time no one came forward to accept the challenge. To
break the ice, Gama presented another challenge to specific heavy weight
wrestlers. He challenged Stanislaus Zbyszko and Frank Gotch,
either he would beat them or pay them the prize money and go home. The first
professional wrestler to take his challenge was the American Benjamin
Roller. In the bout, Gama pinned Roller in 1 minute 40 seconds the first time,
and in 9 minutes 10 seconds the other. On the second day, he defeated 12
wrestlers and thus gained entry to official tournament.
Match with Stanislaus Zbyszko
He was pitted against world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko and
the date of bout was set as 10 September 1910. Zbyszko was now regarded among
the premier wrestlers in the world; and he would then take on the mammoth
challenge of India's feared Great Gama, an undefeated champion who had been
unsuccessful in his attempts to lure Frank Gotch into a match. And so, on
September 10, 1910, Zbyszko faced the Great Gama in the finals of the John Bull
World Championships in London. The match was £250 in prize money and the John
Bull Belt. Within a minute, Zbyszko was taken down and remained in that
position for the remaining 2 hours and 35 minutes of the match. There were a
few brief moments when Zbyszko would get up, but he just ended back down in his
previous position. Crafting a defensive strategy of hugging the mat in order to
nullify Great Gama’s greatest strengths, Zbyszko wrestled the Indian legend to
a draw after nearly three hours of grappling, though Zbyszko’s lack of tenacity
angered many of the fans in attendance.
The two men were set to face each other again but Zbyszko
didn't show up and Gama was announced victor.
During this tour Gama defeated some of the most respected
grapplers in the world, "Doc" Benjamin Roller of the United
States, Maurice Deriaz of France, Johann Lemm (the European Champion) of
Switzerland, and Jesse Peterson (World Champion) from Sweden. In the
match against Roller, Gama threw "Doc" 13 times in the 15-minute
match. Gama now issued a challenge to the rest of those who laid claim to the
World Champion's Title, including Japanese Judo champion Taro Miyake, George
Hackenschmidt of Russia and Frank Gotch of the United States –
each declined his invitation to enter the ring to face him. At one point, to
face some type of competition, Gama offered to fight twenty English wrestlers,
one after another. He announced that he would defeat all of them or pay out
prize money, but still no one would take up his challenge.
Final encounter with Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala
Shortly after his return from England, Gama faced Raheem
Bakhsh Sultani Wala in Allahabad. This bout eventually ended the long
struggle between the two pillars of Indian wrestling of that time in favour of
Gama and he won the title of Rustam-e-Hind or Champion of India.
Later in his life when asked about who was his strongest opponent, Gama
replied, "Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala".
Rematch with Zbyszko
After beating Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, Gama faced Pandit
Biddu, who was one of the best wrestlers in India of that time
(1916), and beat him.
In 1922, during a visit to India, the Prince of Wales presented
Gama with a silver mace.
Gama did not have any opponents until 1927, when it was
announced that Gama and Zbyszko would face each other again. They met in Patiala in
January 1928. Entering the bout, Zbyszko "showed a strong build of
body and muscle" and Gama, it was reported "looked thinner
usual". However, he managed overpower the former easily won the bout
inside a minute, winning the World Wrestling Championship medal.
Following the bout, Zbyszko called him a "tiger".
At forty-eight years old he was now known as the "Great
wrestler" of India.
Death
The Great Gama died in Lahore, Pakistan on 23
May 1960 after a period of illness. He was given land by the government but he
still struggled to pay for treatment for his heart and asthma. G. D.
Birla, an industrialist and wrestling fan, donated Rs. 2,000 and a monthly
pension of Rs. 300, and the Government of Pakistan increased the
pension to Gama and supported his medical expenses until his death.
Today, a doughnut-shaped exercise disc weighing 95 kg,
used by him for squats, is housed at the National Institute of Sports (NIS)
Museum at Patiala.
Influenced
Bruce Lee was an avid follower of Gama's training
routine. Lee read articles about Gama and how he employed his exercises to
build his legendary strength for wrestling, and Lee quickly incorporated them
into his own routine. The training routines Lee used included "the cat
stretch", "the squat" (known as "baithak"), and also
known as the "deep-knee bend."
Comments
Post a Comment