The Most Famous

WRESTLERS from India

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This page contains a list of the greatest Indian Wrestlers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,027 Wrestlers, 8 of which were born in India. This makes India the birth place of the 23rd most number of Wrestlers behind China, and Netherlands.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Indian Wrestlers of all time. This list of famous Indian Wrestlers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Indian Wrestlers.

Photo of The Great Khali

1. The Great Khali (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 53.03, The Great Khali is the most famous Indian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 50 different languages on wikipedia.

Dalip Singh Rana (born 27 August 1972) is an Indian-born American retired professional wrestler and wrestling promoter better known by his ring name The Great Khali. He is best known for his tenure in WWE where he became the first Indian-born World Heavyweight Champion in history. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021. He made his professional wrestling debut in 2000. Before embarking on his professional wrestling career, he was an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Punjab Police. He has appeared in four Hollywood films, two Bollywood films and several television shows. He is the founder and head coach of India's largest professional wrestling promotion, Continental Wrestling Entertainment, founded in 2015.

Photo of The Great Gama

2. The Great Gama (1878 - 1960)

With an HPI of 48.76, The Great Gama is the 2nd most famous Indian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (22 May 1878 – 23 May 1960), commonly known by the title Rustam-e-Hind and by the ring name The Great Gama, was a pehlwani wrestler and strongman in British India and later, Pakistan. In the early 20th century, he was an undefeated wrestling champion of British India. He was born in the Kashmiri Butt caste in Jabbowal village (Amritsar District) in the Punjab Province of British India in 1878, and was awarded a version of the World Heavyweight Championship on 15 October 1910. Undefeated in a career spanning more than 52 years, he is considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. After the partition of India, Gama migrated to Pakistan, where he died in the city of Lahore on 23 May 1960. The prominent members of Great Gama Family includes, The Great Jahara Pehlwan, Nasir Bholu, Sohail Pehalwan, Abid Pehalwan, Kalsoom Nawaz, Bilal Yasin (Ex-Federal Minister), Ibraz Butt (Youth Parliamentarian, Secretary of Information) & Moazzam Zubair (Son of Jahara The Great)

Photo of Sushil Kumar

3. Sushil Kumar (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 31.88, Sushil Kumar is the 3rd most famous Indian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Sushil Kumar (born 26 May 1983) is a former Indian wrestler and two-time Olympic medallist. His 2008 Olympic medal was only the second for India in wrestling, and the first since Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav's bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics. In July 2009, he received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna – India's highest honour for sportspersons. On 3 October 2010, Kumar handed the Queen's Baton to Prince Charles in the Queen's Baton Relay for the 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. He carried the Indian flag at the opening ceremony of 2012 London Olympics. Sushil won the gold medal in the 74 kg division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Sushil won the gold medal in the 74 kg division at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He is the first and only Indian to win a gold medal at World Wrestling Championships.

Photo of Geeta Phogat

4. Geeta Phogat (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 31.66, Geeta Phogat is the 4th most famous Indian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Geeta Phogat (born 15 December 1988) is a freestyle wrestler who won India's first-ever gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. She is also the first Indian female wrestler to have qualified for the Olympic Games.

Photo of Yogeshwar Dutt

5. Yogeshwar Dutt (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 29.15, Yogeshwar Dutt is the 5th most famous Indian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Yogeshwar Dutt (born 2 November 1982) is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the 60 kg category. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013. He won gold medals at the 2010 and the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Photo of Bajrang Punia

6. Bajrang Punia (b. 1994)

With an HPI of 28.95, Bajrang Punia is the 6th most famous Indian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Bajrang Punia (born 26 February 1994) is an Indian politician and a freestyle wrestler. He is a member of the Indian National Congress serving as the Working President of the All India Kisan Congress. Punia joined Congress party along with fellow wrestler Vinesh Phogat in September 2024. In his new role with Congress, Punia is involved in raising the issues of farmers in Haryana as well as in other states. As a wrestler, Punia competes in the 65-kg weight category. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Punia won a bronze medal by defeating Kazakhstan's Daulet Niyazbekov with a 8–0 margin. Punia is the only Indian wrestler to win four medals at the World Wrestling Championships. He is a recipient of Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India which he gave up as a protest after a close aide of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was elected as Wrestling Federation of India chief.

Photo of Babita Kumari

7. Babita Kumari (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 25.82, Babita Kumari is the 7th most famous Indian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Babita Kumari Phogat (born 20 November 1989) is a former Indian professional wrestler and a politician from the state of Haryana. She is a multiple Commonwealth Games medalist, winning the gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games, and silver medals at 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games. When she won the 2014 Commonwealth gold medal, she became the second Indian women wrestler to win a Commonwealth gold after Geeta Phogat, who had won it in 2010. Babita participated in the Rio 2016 Olympics in the 53 Kg women's wrestling, though she could not make it to the podium. Earlier, she had won a bronze medal at the 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships tournament in New Delhi, India; and another bronze at the 2012 World Wrestling Championships. Later in 2019, after retiring from sports, Babita Phogat entered politics by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Photo of Vinesh Phogat

8. Vinesh Phogat (b. 1994)

With an HPI of 21.53, Vinesh Phogat is the 8th most famous Indian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Vinesh Phogat (pronounced [ʋɪˈneːʃ ˈpʰoːɡɑːʈ]; born 25 August 1994) is an Indian politician and former wrestler, who is a current member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Haryana. She won the 2024 assembly election from Julana constituency representing the Indian National Congress. Previously as a wrestler, she was a multiple-gold medalist of Commonwealth Games, with her wins in 2014, 2018, and 2022. In her wrestling career, Phogat achieved a milestone when she won the gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games and became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold medal at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games. She has also won two bronze medals at the World Wrestling Championships. She is a three-time Olympian, having competed in three different weight classes: 48 kg in 2016, 53 kg in 2020, and 50 kg in 2024. In the 2024 Summer Olympics, she became the first Indian female wrestler to reach an Olympic final. However, she was disqualified after exceeding the stipulated weight by 100 grams (3.5 oz) on the second day of her event. After her disqualification, she announced her retirement. In 2023, she was part of the 2023 Indian wrestlers' protest against then president of Wrestling Federation of India and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexual harassment by several female wrestlers. In 2024, she supported the farmer's protest at Shambhu border, and was honoured by the farmer union leaders.

Photo of Bekmurod Oltiboev

9. Bekmurod Oltiboev (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 0.00, Bekmurod Oltiboev is the 9th most famous Indian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Bekmurod Oltiboev (born 17 June 1996) is an Uzbekistani judoka. At the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia, he won one of the bronze medals in the men's +100 kg event. At the 2019 Military World Games held in Wuhan, China, Oltiboev won the silver medal in the men's +100 kg event. At the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games held in Baku, Azerbaijan, Oltiboev won one of the bronze medals in the men's +100 kg event. In 2021, he competed in the men's +100 kg event at the World Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He also competed in the men's +100 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.

Photo of Navjot Kaur

10. Navjot Kaur (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 0.00, Navjot Kaur is the 10th most famous Indian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Navjot Kaur (born 10 February 1990 in a Sikh Jatt family) is an Indian wrestler. She represented India in the women's freestyle 67 kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in which she won the bronze medal. She became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Asian Championship gold medal.

People

Pantheon has 11 people classified as Indian wrestlers born between 1878 and 1996. Of these 11, 10 (90.91%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Indian wrestlers include The Great Khali, Sushil Kumar, and Geeta Phogat. The most famous deceased Indian wrestlers include The Great Gama. As of April 2024, 3 new Indian wrestlers have been added to Pantheon including Bekmurod Oltiboev, Navjot Kaur, and Shushila Devi Likmabam.

Living Indian Wrestlers

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Deceased Indian Wrestlers

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Newly Added Indian Wrestlers (2024)

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