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The Palmless Wrestler
The state of Uttar Pradesh in India is known for its wrestling prowess. It has produced very great wrestlers. Padmaraj took part in the annual state level wrestling competitions organised in the year 1966 and won second position.
Such was the magic of Padmaraj, the wrestler without palms.
Padmaraj was born on 2nd October 1942 at Kanpur. When his mother saw the newly born child without palms, she was greatly shocked. His father Shyamdas Arora was at a loss to understand how the child would grow and lead a normal independent and self-reliant life.
When Padmaraj was nine-year old, he would see Padmaraj going to gymnasium children of his age playing merrily and would wonder if he too would be able to indulge in such merry-making. He would often feel dejected, realising that he may have to lead a dependent life because of the disability he was suffering from at birth.
It was in this depressing situation that his brother-in-law came to his rescue and introduced him to a gymnasium for undergoing training in wrestling and where he soon
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