Today is the birthday of the country's most famous wrestler Dara Singh Randhawa. On this day in 1928, he was born in Dharmuchak, Amritsar, Punjab. His father's name was Surat Singh Randhawa and his mother's name was Balwant Kaur. Dara Singh was a lover of wrestling since childhood. Since childhood, Dara Singh, along with his younger brother, goes to wrestling ceremonies in the surrounding districts to watch wrestling. Both wrestled many wrestlers. In 1947, Dara Singh reached Singapore for wrestling. He spread his fame by beating Malaysian champion Tarlok Singh here. It was from here that the new journey of Dara Singh's career began.
He became Indian wrestling champion in 1954. He then became the Commonwealth Champion. World champion Kyng Kong also could not stand ahead of Dara. While Dara Singh was earning a name from his wrestling, some people were passing this exasperation. Canada's champion George Guardianca and New Zealand wrestler John DeSilva openly challenged Dara Singh in Kolkata in 1959. Along with wrestling, he also worked in films. Dara Singh's first film in 1952 was Sangdil. But the 1962 film King Kong gave him a real identity. The film was also based on wrestling. He acted in about 100 films. In 1968, Dara Singh defeated American champion of freestyle wrestling Lau Thej and with this victory, he became the world champion. In 1983, he said goodbye to wrestling.
Dara Singh fought around 500 professional wrestles and did not face defeat in a single. He was awarded the title of Rustom-Hind in 1954 and Rustom-Punjab in 1966. In 1996, he is named in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. He was also a Rajya Sabha MP from 2003 to 2009. Dara Singh also played the role of Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar serial Ramayana. Due to this, he became popular. He died on 12 July 2012.
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