At first glance, Manish would pass for just another handsome youngster. But talk to him about wrestling and his eyes light up. The finance expert is all set to launch the Indian Xtreme Wrestling Collision 2017 at the Great India Place, NOIDA, on February 12. The event is is expected to draw huge crowds.
This Collision 2017 night will feature some of the leading lights like Rocky (mixed martial arts), Dildar Singh (mat wrestling), Danny (pro-body builder), The Beast (Rughby), Flash (judo), Neil (engineer turned body builder), Jack (handball), Jack Hammer (Powerlifting), and many more. The Collision provides a perfect mesh of sportsmen from various games and more importantly these are all medallists in their own fields.
“This event is a War of Champions,” says Manish, founder of the sport in the country. “All these wrestlers have a great background in the various events they have played and also have proved themselves in their respective sports. We want to showcase their enormous talent to the public,” added Manish.
When asked why they wanted this fight to be held at a mall, Manish reasoned that it was a good platform for promotion as the mall has a huge footfall.
‘Normally there are about 2 to 2.5 lakh people who throng the mall on a weekend. So we thought that it’s easier to promote the sport among the youth. As we have a vibrant youth population, we want them to take to the sport as a career option,” said Manish.
Manis further noted that there is no restriction of age, game format, weight, and background sport when it comes to Xtreme Wrestling. “You see we in the Xtreme League we promote all sorts of athletes. They can be from any background, yet they can come and compete in this format. Also there is no retirement age and it all depends on one’s fitness,” said Manish.
Advocating the need for promoting a healthy lifestyle for the youth, Manish said, “We want to convey to the youth that if one leads a healthy lifestyle—- eat the right food, have the right regimen, then one can avoid a visit to the doctor or hospital. This message we want to convey to the youth across the country.”
Manish, who was instrumental in bringing the sport to the country in 2008, said that in absence of opportunity it was a challenge to conduct this event. “Back in 2008, I was watching a WWF tie on the television and I was stuck by the fact that despite everyone closely following this sport, we didn’t have the opportunity to conduct this event in India. I was very sure that if we conducted an event in India, it would be a major success. We approached some sponsors then, but no one came forward to help us. They said we Indians cannot meet the international standards. That also showed that they had no faith in us— for me this was a challenge and I wanted to prove a point,” said Manish.
However, this time a reputed international brand like Playboy Café has come forward as the co- sponsor of the event in the GIP. “Playboy has always believed in changing the society like they did in the US. So they do believe in our vision of changing the society. It’s like walking on a roadless path, with a brighter side that no one has ever explored the opportunities in that path,” said Manish.