Ninety-two-year-old veteran Peshotan Mehta inaugurated the first All Zoroastrian Men and Women Arm Wrestling Competition organized by the Parsee Gymkhana in Bombay when 58 competitors, including 12 women, from Bombay, Ahmedabad, Navsari, Surat and Nagpur participated. "It was the first such official event held in Bombay,” notes a report on the competition sent by Gymkhana managing committee member Rustom Jasoomoney who mentioned that Parsee Gymkhana is the only association from Bombay to be affiliated with the Maharashtra State Arm Wrestling Association based in Nagpur. The competition on November 19, 2016 was judged in accordance with international rules by officials who had come from different parts of Maharashtra.
"The event does not take long, but pre-event preparation, i.e. weighing in and setting up fixtures was time consuming” for the organizers. The weighing in started at about 4 p.m. and the tournament commenced by 7 p.m. and ended around two hours later. In some of the men events which saw maximum participation, the competitors were further divided according to their weight that ranged from 60 to 138 kg. Teams of four wrestlers were formed and the winning Team Force got the championship award and a cash prize of Rs 25,000.
(From left, 1st row): Mehli Golvala, Rustom Jasoomoney, Khodadad Yazdegardi, Minoo Khan, Peshotan Mehta, Percy Bahmani, Firoze Katrak, Adi Pardiwalla; (2nd row): Farzad Driver and Pashin Zaveri; Kaizin Parabia and Anahita Tarapore; Sherzad
Rabadi and Meherzad Chinoy; (3rd row): arm wrestling winners at the Parsee Gymkhana
Photos: Zal Cassinath
The youngest male competitor was 13-year-old Xerxes Mistry and the eldest, Yezdi Panthaki, 79. Among the females, the youngest was 22-year-old Anahita Tarapore and the eldest was Mehera Hataria, 59. Many of the competitors got valuable tips from Mehta who at the age of 81 had won the national competition in Meerut in 2005 in the Ultra Super Class. They learnt that arm wrestling does not necessarily mean that the heavier, muscular or stronger person has a winning advantage. It requires a combination of skill, grip, body leverage, mental strength with arm and shoulder power. The champion in the women’s senior category was Kaizin Parabia with the lightest body weight. Kaizin and her husband Burzin Parabia have represented Gujarat at national level competitions. It was also noticed that participants from Gujarat had a slight advantage as this sport is played by them at the state level, and the Nagpur competitors were used to participating in this event on the annual sports day of the Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana.
There was great excitement and cheering among the 300 odd spectators as the event progressed into the final stages. The first three winners in the men juniors under 18 years were Pashin Zaveri, Farzad Driver, Farzaan Dalal; in the seniors (18-30) women, Parabia, Tarapore, Arnavaz Kollah; men A group, Kaivan Dastoor, Nekshad Irani, Rustam Dastoor; men B group, Meherzad Chinoy, Viraf Dhallu, Shahvir Patell; in the masters (30-40 years) women, Samanaz Lashkari, Teenaa Dubash; men A group Shahin Wadia, Hanoz Broacha, Darius Dalal; men B group, Vistop Sanjana, Meherzad Wankadia, Neville Lashkari; grand master (40-50 years) women, Dilshad Daruvala, Shahnaz Jogina, Hataria; men, Sherzad Rabadi, Cyrus Sasoori, Khushru Cooper; super (50-60 years) men, Behram Siganporia, Adale Patel, Kerman Gagrat; super (above 60 years) Percy Bahmani, Panthaki, Hoshi Vajifdar.
Chief guest Hanshi (grand master) Bahmani who "at the age of 62 became 8th degree karate black belt, 4th degree kudo (full contact martial art) black belt and an international referee for this sport” was felicitated by Parsee Gymkhana president Mehli Golvala. Also honored that evening were Mehta who was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award and veteran Parsi strongmen of the past: Ervad Dara Panthaki who had won laurels when representing Gujarat in Indian style wrestling and cycling; Pesi Patrawala who was Mr Bombay in 1955 and performed many feats of strength besides being a cross country running champion; Kersi Kasad who was crowned Mr India in the Tall men class in 1960 and stood second in the overall championship; Viraf Panthaki who was seven times weightlifting champion in his body weight class, the coach and manager of the Indian bodybuilding team which competed in the 2016 Asian Championship held at Bhutan and is also a recipient of the Shiv Chhatrapati Award.
Sponsorship for the event came from Zoroastrian Co-operative Bank, Dunne’s Institute, Wibs Bakery and Veldon Coats that donated the custom made table that was used for this event. Behind the scenes efforts of the managing committee members of the Parsee Gymkhana, especially Khodadad Yazdegardi, Freddy Driver, Minoo Khan, and the staff were lauded. Hutoxi Doodhwala served as the master of ceremonies for the evening. An ambulance from the Parsi Ambulance Division was kept as standby in case of emergency.
In April 2017 the Dadar Parsee Gymkhana and NarYman Dubash Foundation will organize the Power Lifting competition, announced Jasoomoney.