KD Jadhav’s family threatens to auction India’s first individual Olympic medal

Ranjit Jadhav, son of Khashaba Jadhav, India’s first individual Olympic medal winner who brought home a bronze for wrestling in 1952 from the Helsinki Olympics at his home in Karad. (Express Photo by Arul Horizon 12/07/2016).

In order to finance a wrestling academy that the Maharashtra state government had promised to fund, late wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav’s family has threatened to sell his Olympic bronze medal – India’s first Olympic individual medal.

It was the legendary wrestler’s dream to set up a world-class academy in his village but the state government failed to fulfil the dream of the legend who created history for India. His son Ranjit K. D. Jadhav said that it had been 65 years since the wrestler won the medal. “Since then, it was my father’s dream to set up a full-fledged world-class wrestling academy in our village, Goleshwar (Karad sub-district) in Satara. Despite repeated attempts we have failed,” Jadhav said in an interview to IANS.

“The matter languishes in cold storage even after sanctioning the amount and now the cost of setting up the academy would be nearly double,” Jadhav said.

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“We have issued an ultimatum to the state government till August 14 – the 33rd death anniversary of my father, who died aged 58 in 1984. If they fail to clear its promise of the academy, from Independence Day, August 15, the family and villagers will go on a hunger strike,” Jadhav declared.

An amount of Rs.1.58 crore was earmarked for the promised academy by the 2009 Maharashtra Sports Minister.