When Hardeep Singh stepped on the mat at a sparsely-crowded arena in Athens, he was one of the many thousand teenagers slugging it out in akharas across Haryana, dreaming of following in the footsteps of wrestling legends from the North India hotbed. Four minutes later, the 16-year-old, orphaned at eight, had carved his reputation and now stands out in a crowd.On Tuesday night, Hardeep became India’s first under-17 world champion in the 110kg weight class of Greco-Roman style, recovering from a 0-2 deficit after the first round to beat Iran’s Yazdan Delrouz 3-2 in a nail-biting final. In doing so, the young wrestler also put Haryana’s Mandothi village, notorious as a hub of wrestler-turned-gangsters, in the spotlight for the right reasons. Originally from Bamnoli, Hardeep has been living and training in Mandothi for four years at an akhara run by Arjuna Awardee wrestler Dharmender Dalal.According to United World Wrestling, this ‘is the heaviest weight class India has ever won a gold medal at the World U17 level’.These are still early days of a fledgling career. But an under-17 gold medal, though not a guarantee of senior-level success, is a sign of talent and promise, especially in a wrestling style – Greco-Roman – in which freestyle-crazy India has had an underwhelming history.“He is only 16 but his strength belies his age. He is very strong and it is exciting to think how much he can improve, especially in his lower-body strength, in the coming years,” Dalal, a former Greco-Roman wrestler who is now Hardeep’s coach, says. “I am not talking about just physical strength. He came back from losing positions in the semifinal and final, which speaks a lot about his mental toughness too.”Jasjit Singh, Hardeep’s paternal uncle, attributes the mental strength to the ‘circumstances’ that the grappler confronted from a young age. “When Hardeep was eight years old, he lost both his parents. Can there be a bigger test for anybody, be it a young child or grown adult, than that?” Jasjit asks, his voice mournful.Toughened by setbacksSatish, Hardeep’s father, was a wrestler employed with the Border Security Force. “However, he became a victim of drug addiction, which had a terrible impact on the whole family,” Jasjit says. Eight years ago, Hardeep’s parents — his mother, Asha Devi, who was with the education ministry, died in a ‘tragic incident’, Jasjit adds without sharing details.Story continues below this adThe responsibility for his elder brother’s two children, Hardeep and his elder sibling Sameer, fell on Jasjit’s shoulders. “Only we know the kind of difficulties we faced during that period. My brother left a note saying they did not have a single penny to leave for the children… we had to sell the family land to ensure that all of us could survive,” he says.Even in those dark days, Jasjit was determined that Hardeep and Sameer would continue the family tradition in wrestling. “My grandfather,” Jasjit says, “was a wrestler. My father, too, was a wrestler and so was my brother, Hardeep’s father.”Initially, he enrolled the two brothers at a local akhara in the village. But when Hardeep turned 12, Jasjit took them to Dalal’s academy in Mandothi. It was a decision fraught with risk. As much as a wrestling hotbed — home to several international wrestlers — Mandothi, in the last few years, has become infamous as a crime hub.In 2019, an officer at the Mandothi police station had told The Indian Express that they found a pattern in the crimes committed in the region. “Those who wanted a particular job done actively looked for wrestlers who failed to make it big,” the officer had said. They came to this conclusion while investigating the background of Naveen Dalal, a former wrestler from Mandothi accused of firing two shots at activist Umar Khalid outside New Delhi’s Constitution Club in 2017.Story continues below this adCrime denIn March this year, the Delhi Police Crime Branch reportedly arrested Manjeet Dalal, a former national-level wrestler from Mandothi, for his involvement in 10 cases of firing (including on the police), robbery and attempt to murder.Dharmender Dalal plays down the unsavoury reputation of his village. “You’ll find bad elements in every city, every village. We had a big wrestling tradition and at the akharas, the only thing children and adults are obsessed with is doing well for India in wrestling,” he says.Jasjit was lured by the wrestling tradition of Mandothi and the single-mindedness of the pehelwans training there when he decided to enrol Hardeep and Sameer at the akhara there. He admits, however, to being ‘worried all the time’.“The akhara is around 12 km from home but I make it a point to visit both of them every day at least three to four times. It’s very easy for young boys to go off the rails,” Jasjit says.Story continues below this adSoon after they joined the akhara, Jasjit, too, quit his government job to be with them 24×7. “I quit everything and concentrated on giving the two brothers the best quality food and whatever else they needed,” he says. “Hardeep’s grandmother wakes up at 3 am, prepares their meals, milks the cow so they get fresh milk every day and I deliver it to them. The same process is repeated in the evening. Every day for the last four years, this has been our routine.”While the family went out of its way to make sure Hardeep and Sameer did not feel the absence of their parents, Dalal took care of the technical part. He sees scope of improvement in many areas, especially in ‘ground positions’. “He isn’t a complete wrestler yet so we have to keep working hard,” Dalal says. “But let’s not forget, he is only 16 years old.”