Pro Panja League: The success of the Pro Kabaddi League in the last few years propelled many relatively unknown sports to follow the PKL model. One such is Arm Wrestling. A hugely popular professional sport in the US and Europe, arm wrestling has been a grassroots sport in India but thanks to Pro Panja League, it has come to life, making an entry into the professional world of sports. Follow InsideSport.IN for more updates on sports and IPL 2022.
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Pro Panja League promoter Parvin Dabas aims to REVOLUTIONIZE Arm Wrestling in India, says ‘We can become commercially viable from third year’
A brainchild of Bollywood actor Parvin Dabas and co-founded by his wife and fellow actor Preeti Jhangiani, Pro Panja League is aimed at ‘professionalise arm wrestling’ in India. InsideSport had a detailed chat with Dabas on the vision of the sport, the challenges he faced in launching during a pandemic and the format.
Pro Panja League promoter Parvin Dabas aims to REVOLUTIONIZE Arm Wrestling in India, says ‘We can become commercially viable from third year’
What is Pro Panja League?
PPL is a professional arm-wrestling league with a unique format that helps amateur arm wrestlers turn into a professional. It also gives a platform to the thousands of athletes who are hoping to make a mark in arm wrestling.
What is the format?
Rather than a two-month or three-month window, PPL is looking at a calendar year. The PPL will begin with a ranking tournament with around 1000 players. For that, PPL has tied up with Indian Arm Wrestling Federation.
- From the 1000 players, 30 players will be chosen to represent 6 teams.
- 6 teams have six weight categories for men, 3 for women and 1 for specially-abled.
- Each weight category will have 3 players each in a team.
- In the first year of PPL, players will be put into a draft after the ranking tournament.
- The main league stage will be played in a 7-week window.
- There will be 4-5 mega matches in a UFC-style fight night over the course of a calendar year.
- Ranking tournaments began in April with the seven-week league slated for July-August window.
Pro Panja League promoter Parvin Dabas aims to REVOLUTIONIZE Arm Wrestling in India, says ‘We can become commercially viable from third year’
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Now that the format is clear, let’s hear from the man himself who wants to revolutionise arm wrestling in India. Here are the excerpts of Parvin Dabas interview:
On initial challenges:
The biggest challenge of course was the lockdown itself. The first event was in February 2020 which was inaugurated by Kiren Rijiju, then Sports Minister. But we had to put our plans on hold because of the lockdowns.
After the lockdown, we had a big event in Mumbai, at the Gateway of India, and in Goa on a casino boat. Both were big occasions and were successful. But again the lockdown happened and we had to take a relook and strategise. The unsurety of scheduling was a big challenge.
We showcased four events as proof of concept and received a good reception from stakeholders. The audience got also got a taste of it.
Pro Panja League promoter Parvin Dabas aims to revolutionize Arm Wrestling in India, says ‘We can become commercially viable from third year’
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On Covid Setback:
We are hopeful that the worst is behind us. But we will have a bio-bubble for the 7-week league phase. We have testing in place for all the players. We are making sure that every player is vaccinated before the tournament.
On foreign players in Pro Panja League:
We are looking at having foreign players from third year onwards. For the first two years, it will be an all-India tournament so that we can develop the sport and bring in foreign players. For the first two years, we will have a draft system in place before we move into a player auction. You must understand that even the teams should know the players before going into an auction and invest in them.
Pro Panja League promoter Parvin Dabas aims to REVOLUTIONIZE Arm Wrestling in India, says ‘We can become commercially viable from third year’
Gwalior!!! Hum aa rahe hain!!
🚨🚨🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT🚨🚨🚨
The biggest Arm Wrestling tournament is here!
Pro Panja Ranking Tournament will take place on 22nd, 23rd & 24th July 2022 at the Laxmibhai national physical education in Gwalior
Mark the dates 🎯🎯#PPL #Armwrestling pic.twitter.com/R8pdzy3l0m
— ProPanjaLeague (@ProPanjaLeague) May 3, 2022
Tackling doping issue in arm wrestling:
We are looking into it. We will be tying up with a testing agency. We may not be testing each athlete but the winners will be tested while there will be a random testing program. We will put a system in place to prevent such things from happening.
Response of players:
The response has been fantastic from the players. They have been waiting for such a platform. They have worked really hard but without the same kind of returns. There are amateur tournaments but they haven’t got the recognition. We have seen many players who had given up are coming back because of Pro Panja League.
We have received a fantastic response from specially-abled athletes. The fact they are getting an opportunity to play in the same league as others, they are very appreciative of that.
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Pro Panja League promoter Parvin Dabas aims to REVOLUTIONIZE Arm Wrestling in India, says ‘We can become commercially viable from third year’
On foreign coaches:
We had plans of bringing in a couple of foreign players for a group coaching session. Michael ‘Monster’ Todd was one of them. The plan did not materialise because of the quarantine rules at that time. As things ease out, we will look to bring in foreign players to teach the players.
On commercial challenges:
If there was no lockdown or Covid, we would have been in our second full season. Understandably, many sponsors were also dealing with Covid. So, we had to take a step back. And it was a strategic step back. We understood it was challenging times for all and you can’t expect too much during this time. But we find ourselves in a good situation and we are not bleeding a lot due to the downtime. We have been affected because of the time loss.
On vision of Pro Panja League:
For players, I see think it will be closer to how kabaddi players started. From the third year onwards, they will see the difference with the auction taking place. What I believe is if they are to depend solely on Pro Panja and leave their jobs, that will only happen from third year onwards.
I don’t want to promise too much but I believe we can become financially viable from third year itself. That is a combination of factors. We don’t have to rent out huge stadiums. We have done our research on where the other leagues are bleeding money. We are a very tight ship. It is very important to be practical and see both the players and the league being profitable.
Pro Panja League promoter Parvin Dabas aims to REVOLUTIONIZE Arm Wrestling in India, says ‘We can become commercially viable from third year’
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