The loneliness of India’s only female sumo wrestler

Hetal Dave has only her brother to train with. And when she seeks sponsorship for international meets, people think it has something to do with Tata Sumo.

Hetal Dave has only her brother to train with. And when she seeks sponsorship for international meets, people think it has something to do with Tata Sumo.

On most days at the Oval Maidan in south Mumbai, you can see young men play cricket, sometimes football. Around the jogging track, girls and boys do the runs while coaches have a finger on their stop watches. The Oval is lush with grass, especially during the monsoons, and is an advertisement as a green lung of Mumbai, a very small lung as green lungs go. It is to the Oval that on evenings, Sundays usually and not during the monsoons, the only female Sumo wrestler of India goes with her only training partner, brother Akshay.

“There’s not a single Sumo ring in India,” says Hetal Dave, 22, looking unlike any Sumo wrestler of your imagination. She is a little on the heavier side, but only given the average Indian body, and nowhere near obese or even fat. Once in the Oval, brother and sister do some warmup exercise, and then, knees widened and bent, lean over from the waist facing each other. They put one fist onto the ground, a signal that they are getting ready, and then the other hand, which means ready to go. And then there is a cautious charge and some pulling and pushing. This is also how she practised in the days leading up to two international competitions in the last two years, the first in Estonia and then in Taiwan.

If such preparation looks sorely wanting for international meets, then blame it on the nature of the sport—it is lonely being a female Sumo wrestler in India. Hetal’s interest in Sumo came through judo, which she started learning at the age of 6. Her coach, Cawas Billimoria, was in the first judo team representing India when it became an Olympics sport. “He used to go to Japan to practice judo. He got into Sumo there and started teaching it in class here,” she says. “I saw boys practising Sumo wrestling for tournaments. I would defeat them. I told sir that even I want to go.”

There is a Sumo federation in India and all player participation in international meets has to be routed through it. Since there are no full-time Sumo wrestlers here, those who go are judokas or normal wrestlers because the same skills apply. The tournaments are for amateurs (the elephantine rolls of fat with which Sumo is identified are of professionals and they don’t participate). The federation, which is a small fledgling body, only forwards the names. The players have to organise their own finances, air tickets, boarding and lodging. “Whoever gets a sponsor, he’s going. Who does not, does not go,” says Sudhir Dave, Hetal’s father.

The World Championship in 2008 was in Estonia and Hetal’s name was cleared. But the family did not have the Rs 1 lakh for the travel and stay. They needed a sponsor and had no idea how to get one. “I once met a person for sponsorship and he asked me, ‘What are you going for?’ I said, ‘Sumo wrestling.’ He said, ‘Which, Tata Sumo?’,” says Hetal. “It sounds funny, but it is also embarrassing.”

Till about a week before the competition, no sponsorship had come through. And then a story on her appeared in Gujarati Mid-Day. Sudhir says, “The paper came out at 9. At 9.30, a man came to my house and said his boss is calling me. I went, and right away the man asked how much I want and signed a cheque made out to the federation.” What had moved the businessman was a mention in the article that Hetal was a Brahmin. “Brahmins are very conservative, and one Brahmin girl going abroad alone caught his attention,” says Sudhir.

If you have seen professional Sumo wrestling, then notice how the only thing apparent on the body of the wrestler is what appears to be a thick loincloth. It is actually a belt. Hetal’s got one in her house. Undone, it is a bolt of cloth, and weighs 6 to 7 kg. The first time Hetal went abroad for a competition, she didn’t have one. “We were going for a big tournament and couldn’t say that I didn’t have it. So someone called up the organisers from here and asked for help saying that I had lost it during travel. I played with a borrowed one.”

In the same tournament, there were other Indian participants, all male, mostly wrestlers from north India. But all their visas were rejected. So Hetal found herself the only Indian in a country where no one understood English. It turned out to be one of her life’s best experiences. “My father spoke on the phone to the organisers and told them about my situation. When I got out of the airport, the mayor of the town was there to receive me. Since he didn’t know English, he called his daughter, who had studied in the US for a year, to come over to my hotel. They took really good care of me,” she says. But she didn’t do well in the tournament. Sumo wrestling’s rules are simple. Only the feet should be on the ground in the ring. To win, either get some other body part of the opponent to touch the ground by pulling him down or push him out of the ring. “At that point [of the competition], you need someone to direct you. I’ve been losing for minor things. Like I didn’t know I was going too far behind near the end of the circle and should have moved ahead or sideways. I was always pushed out,” she says.

In 2009, she went to the World Games in Taiwan. World Games is the Olympics of all those games which don’t feature in the Olympics. Again, money was an issue. “I told hundreds of people and one came up. Sometimes, people told me, ‘How can you play Sumo since you are tiny and not that fat?’ Many don’t believe that I am a Sumo player. People here don’t want to know something new. When I went for sponsorship, the usual response was ‘Sumo hai na, dekhenge’.” She got half her sponsorship from the Tatas and had to put up the rest from what she had saved taking judo classes in schools. Her performance, however, was better this time. “I played four rounds. I almost went up to the bronze level and lost to the Chinese. In the middle weight category, I stood fifth in the world,” she says.

While it’s lonely being the only female Sumo wrestler in India, there are some benefits. She’s made friends with female Sumo wrestlers in other countries, and keeps in touch with them. “I just keep on messaging and mailing them to know about upcoming tournaments,” she says.
At the World Games, the Japanese wrestlers became such good friends that during bouts they were cheering for her with loud exclamations. “They were speaking in Japanese, so I really didn’t know what they were saying. But it felt good,” she says.

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

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