At 13, Subhash Verma left Malakpur village for Delhi to train seriously as a wrestler.Back home, he had an akhara to practise in, but the exposure was limited. In Delhi, he found stronger training partners and more experienced coaches. “The training may be similar, but the people you train with and the coach make a big difference,” Verma, now 61, recalled.In 1987, he became the first sportsperson from Baghpat — then part of Meerut — to win the Arjuna Award.Nearly four decades later, six more sportspersons from the district have followed him: three wrestlers, two shooters and a para-athlete. The latest is 32-year-old shooter Akhil Sheoran, one of 17 sportspersons selected for the award this year.Sport has been woven into village life, passed down through families, and often seen as a route to securing jobs in the Army, police and paramilitary forces. Former champions have gone on to build academies of their own. Shokendra Tomar, 45, received the Arjuna Award in 2004.At the same time, the journeys of Baghpat’s Arjuna awardees reveal a limitation: while the district has developed more sporting infrastructure — it now has three stadiums, two of which are fully operational, academies and clubs — athletes seeking specialised coaching, equipment and high-level competition often look to Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.The Indian Express spoke to the awardees about where they trained, what they found lacking in Baghpat and how they have tried to bridge that gap.Story continues below this adLooking beyondFor Verma, the problem was not a lack of talent but the conditions in which wrestlers trained.Rural akharas often lacked proper wrestling mats, while some had no roofs and shut during the monsoon and winter. Coaches, too, had limited exposure to modern training methods, he said. Sunil Kumar Rana, who received the award in 2014, established a wrestling academy for children in his villageThis was behind his decision to set up an akhara of his own in 1998 on a plot he had purchased in Ghaziabad four years earlier.He said the location, along the Saharanpur-Delhi highway in Loni, was easily accessible to wrestlers from Baghpat and neighbouring districts, where they could train and stay for free. The facility has since received support from the Sports Authority of India, which has provided a coach and wrestling mats, he said.Story continues below this adVerma, a retired Deputy Commandant in the Border Security Force, added: “If our athletes are performing well despite the lack of facilities, imagine what they could achieve if they had access to them.”Fight for a stadiumFor Shokendra Tomar, 45, who received the Arjuna Award in 2004, the lack of facilities became a personal campaign.In 2008, Tomar offered to auction his medals and awards to raise money for wrestling mats and land for a stadium, and staged a protest in the district.The state government subsequently assured him that a stadium would be built. Baghpat got one in 2014, under the then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Tomar said.Story continues below this ad Vivek Singh, 50, from Johri village, received the national honour for shooting in 1999.But the 36-acre sports complex has since fallen into disrepair owing to poor maintenance, he said. The wrestling hall has remained closed for years and, at times, has been used for kabaddi.Tomar said wrestlers from villages still travel to Delhi — like he did — because local facilities lack proper mats, gyms and qualified coaches. They also have limited access to information about nutrition, modern training techniques and changes in the sport. “If the infrastructure is good, coaches will also come,” he said.Tomar’s own story also shows how strongly the culture of sport is rooted in families. Rajeev Tomar received the Arjuna Award in 2010His family borrowed money to meet his training and living expenses. His brother, Parvinder Tomar, travelled nearly 60 km every day for 10 years to bring him five litres of milk from home.Story continues below this ad“He brought the milk every day, including Sundays. Every member of the family contributed,” Tomar said.A former Northern Railways employee, he worked as a chief ticket inspector in Delhi. Tomar now lives at his ancestral home in Baghpat.He attributed Baghpat’s sporting success to its culture and work ethic. “Our culture does not teach us to sit idle. We are restless people who keep working and pushing ourselves. That attitude drives us to achieve something,” he said.Building at homeThe connection between village life and wrestling runs through the careers of other Arjuna awardees.Story continues below this adSunil Kumar Rana, who received the award in 2014, grew up around it. His father, Charan Singh, a farmer and former wrestler, encouraged him to take up the sport.Across the road from his house, local wrestler Desh Pal, popularly known as Khalifa, ran an akhara. “I joined his akhara… and the rest is history,” Rana recalled.After retiring from the Army in 2020, Rana returned to his village and established a wrestling academy for children aged between eight and 21.“I was encouraged by my father and grandfather, who wanted me to create an opportunity for local youngsters to train close to home rather than travel elsewhere,” he said.Story continues below this adHis academy now has around 100 students. He said three of his trainees have represented India at the international level, while several others have won medals at national competitions.The 44-year-old retired from the Indian Army in 2020 with the rank of honorary captain. He is married, with two children.A shooting cultureShooting has also developed a strong foothold.Vivek Singh, 50, from Johri village, received the national honour for shooting in 1999. He has represented India at international events and won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 and Melbourne in 2006 in the free pistol and air pistol events.Story continues below this adMuch of his own training took place in Delhi.His father, Rajpal Singh, later started a shooting range on family land in the district, which has a 10-metre range. “I’ve been working to fulfil my father’s dream, as he has been deeply devoted to the sport throughout his life,” he said.But Vivek said there is a significant difference between the facilities available in Delhi and Baghpat — the former has electronic targets and better-equipped infrastructure.The gap matters more as shooters progress, he said. Without advanced training facilities and proper coaching, young athletes can struggle to develop the techniques required to compete at higher levels.Vivek now works as a coach with the National Rifle Association of India in Delhi. Before joining the association, Singh was an assistant general manager with Air India.Ankur Dhama, a para-athlete, won the Arjuna Award in 2018. He, too, said he had to move out of his home in Khekra for better training opportunities. Shooter Akhil Sheoran, 32, is one of 17 sportspersons named for the award this year.Dhama, who has been visually impaired since the age of 5, competes in the 1,500-metre and 5-kilometre events and now works as a coach with the Sports Authority of India in Delhi.He lives with his elder sister in Sonipat.The next generationFor Akhil Sheoran, the obstacle in his early years was more basic: access to a rifle.From Angadpur Johri, he took up shooting in Class 8. His family could not afford a rifle for him, while the school had only one that had to be shared among several aspiring shooters.This meant he missed several competitions and opportunities to compete. “It was in 2011 that I got my own rifle,” said Akhil.He completed his graduation and an MBA in Delhi and joined the Uttar Pradesh Police as a Deputy Superintendent of Police in 2024.Akhil, too, said there remains a significant gap between the shooting facilities available in Delhi and those in Baghpat. At the Baghpat facility, he said, targets are fixed manually, whereas the Delhi range uses a computerised system that shows precisely where a bullet has struck.What Baghpat has, what it still needsAccording to Baghpat Sports Officer Amit Kumar, it is the first district in Uttar Pradesh to have produced seven Arjuna Award recipients. Their success, he said, has encouraged a new generation to take up competitive sport.The district administration said Baghpat’s sporting infrastructure has improved significantly. District Magistrate Asmita Lal said the administration has made sports a priority and is providing support to athletes through sports centres, stadiums, playing fields and shooting ranges.Funds from MPs and MLAs are also being used to develop sports infrastructure, she said, while proposals have been submitted to the state government and sports authorities for additional facilities.Children in the district are increasingly taking up disciplines ranging from wrestling, shooting and archery to javelin, shot put, boxing, volleyball and football, Lal said.She acknowledged that some athletes continue to leave Baghpat but said they may be looking for specialised coaching from particular coaches or better opportunities elsewhere. She stressed that the district already has good sports facilities.Athletes, however, said while stadium facilities and other sporting infrastructure in the district have improved, more needs to be done to meet their needs.Rajeev Tomar, who received the Arjuna Award in 2010, said grassroots wrestling does not necessarily require elaborate infrastructure in the early stages. “All you need is a proper wrestling mat, a hall and a qualified coach — facilities that are still not available in some parts of Baghpat,” he said.The 48-year-old began his wrestling journey in Baghpat’s Malkapur before eventually moving to Delhi. He now works as a sports officer with the Northern Railways and lives in Delhi with his wife and two children.Nearly 10 years ago, he said he approached the Uttar Pradesh Sports Directorate in Lucknow seeking land to establish a wrestling facility, but said his request remains pending.He suggested that sports authorities consult former champions and experienced wrestlers while planning or upgrading infrastructure, as they are better placed to understand the practical requirements of the sport.