“It was great to compete against the IIT students”: Chetna Sharma

‘Fight Like a Girl’- Women’s Pro Panja star Chetna Sharma humbles IIT Mumbai in arm-wrestling matches

Pro Panja League’s +65 Kg women’s champion Chetna Sharma was the star of the night when India’s premium arm-wrestling competition arrived at the IIT Bombay’s Sports Fest ‘Aavhan’ last week. Partnering with the engineering institution, Pro Panja League, which is in affiliation with the Indian Arm Wrestling Federation, organised a unique competition at the fest where students were given the opportunity to arm wrestle the six-time national champion, Chetna Sharma.

Over 100 students tried their luck in the competition, with Sachin Sonage, Luvkush, Aryan, and Manish finishing as the top four male participants and earning the opportunity to challenge Chetna Sharma to win Rs 10,000 cash prize.

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The four competitors could barely move Chetna’s hands and the Assam arm-wrestler won each match-up with ease. She was later challenged by Almaas Unnu Salna, who was the finalist among the women participants, but she too suffered a similar fate as her male counterparts. Chetna Sharma said

“It was great to compete against the IIT students. It was great to see a lot of male and female competitors coming there to participate. The best thing about the whole event was that everyone was taking the sport of arm wrestling seriously. I really enjoyed competing against the students, and picking up the wins,”

“Pro Panja is promoting arm wrestling on a grand scale. No one used to know about us or even knew that arm wrestling is also a sport. But because of Pro Panja League, the sport and the arm wrestlers are gaining recognition in the country, and that is such a warm feeling”

The Arm Wrestling event organized by Pro Panja League proved to be the biggest crowd-puller of the Aavhan event. The atmosphere was indeed unique as most IITians were witnessing a professionally set up Arm Wrestling event for the first time.