'We, the Mangeshkar family, don't wish to be drawn into this controversy and this controversy should end and politics on Didi's name must be stopped.'

A German team practises mallakhamb with coach Uday Deshpande

In a TEDx Gateway talk held in 2017, 65-year-old Uday Deshpande talks of how he started learning mallakhamb at Shivaji Park's Samarth Vyayam Mandir (SVM) at the age of three. The passion for the sport, which has its origins in Maharashtra, gripped him so much, he says, that he even stuck to his daily regime on the day of his wedding. As the audience laughs, Deshpande moves on to talk about what he returned to the sport — spreading its awareness not just to other Indian cities across 29 states, but globally as well. He rattles off a statistic: in the last 25 years more than 2,500 foreigners from 52 countries have learnt mallakhamb.

His passport — which thanks to the several added visa pages has increasing so much in girth that it is a candidate for bariatric surgery — bears signs of his visits to countries like USA, Singapore, Nepal, Germany, France, Austria, Hong Kong. And now, says Deshpande, the director at SVM who also coaches there, all this effort is going to culminate into the first mallakhamb world championship to be held at Shivaji Park, next February. Speaking to mid-day from his Shivaji Park office, keeping a stern eye on the practice sessions on the grounds, Deshpande announces proudly," Mallakhamb is ready to go the next mile. France and Germany in fact, have mallakhamb federations in their countries. We need to now harness that exposure into a competition." The championships — to be held under the auspices of the newly-formed Vishwa Mallakhamb Federation (VMF) — will be held between February 16-17 2019. Deshpande, the secretary of VFM, says all the details of the organisation of the event are being taken care of by SVM officials.

Uday Deshpande

And 15 countries have already announced their participation. Dr (PhD) Neeta Tatke, administrative secretary, SVM, whose thesis was on the mental benefits of the sport, says, "A competition is one way to kindle curiosity, sustain the sport and watch it grow. We also need to increase participation at home." For Tatke, GenNext will take a shine to the rope and pole, "if we have national and world champions here, nurtured and made in our backyard. For instance, see the boost tennis and badminton got in India. This is because with the Saina Nehwals, Sania Mirzas and P V Sindhus, young Indians have role models to look up to. We need to create that in mallakhamb. Competition is one way to do so."

A couple of years ago, when Deutschland came to Dadar, the German mallakhamb team given an Indian experience by Samarth volunteers. After their morning mallakhamb practice, Samarth members taught the Germans, Lezim (a Maharashtrian folk) dance, they learnt to play the flute and even dabbled in Warli painting. This time, organisers say that at the World Championships, there will be a food court at the venue and an exhibition centre outlining the history of mallakhamb.

Ruth Azenberger, German mallakhamb coach — who started learning mallakhamb when she was eight years old, in 2004, and then received the Mallakhamb Trainers Certificate in 2012 from the University of Mumbai and Mallakhamb Federation of India — says, "We are thrilled to be a part of the competition and show what we have learned for the last 15 years." Azenberger adds that the final mallakhamb team will be selected in September.

Shreyas Mhaskar, trustee, SVM and former national Mallakhamb champion adds, "Mallakhamb's origins are Indian, so it is natural that India hosts the debut World Championship." Officials say that, "we also have plans of how to make this a more equitable field for all nations. We are going to negate the obvious advantage India will have, with its long tradition of mallakhamb with a few surprises in rules that we will not divulge now." Ambition is expensive. The committee says they are earmarking R2 crore expense overall and are now hunting for sponsors. Yet, to zero in on that elusive one with deep pockets, the organizers are holding on to their dream because they have the courage of conviction, or when it comes to mallakhamb, like the practitioners that should be courage of their contortions.