Shankarrao Salvi was an Indian Athlete. He was an Indian Kabaddi player. He also served in the position of the coach and the administrator in Indian Kabaddi scenario. He was life president of Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India. He is well remembered in the Indian Kabaddi scenario, as he contributed much to foster Kabaddi among the young students of Kabaddi.
Early Life of Shankarrao Salvi
Shankarrao Salvi was born on 15th July in the year 1931.
Career of Shankarrao Salvi
Shankarrao Salvi is described as the most influential speaker. His efforts in the field resulted in the merging of "hu tu tu" into a standardised version of Kabaddi. "Hu tu tu", a traditional game similar to Kabaddi, played in Maharashtra has nine players per side whereas the standard Kabaddi is played with seven players per side. Traditionalists in Maharashtra had resisted replacement of the word "hu tu tu" with "Kabaddi" a word more common in northern India. They had persisted in their resistance even after its acceptance in the southern India states.
Later Career of Shankarrao Salvi
Shankarrao Salvi was a good lobby man. He cultivated good relations with the state government and lobbied with Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, to obtain state patronage for Kabaddi.
Contribution of Shankarrao Salvi
Shankarrao Salvi travelled widely to popularise Kabaddi. In the 1970s, Shankarrao Salvi organised tours to Bangladesh and Japan. His efforts lead to the popularisation of the sport internationally and it"s being played in the Asian Games in 1990 where India won the Gold medal. He was a member of the working committee of the International Kabaddi Federation when the foundation was created in 2004.
Award Received by Shankarrao Salvi
Shankarrao Salvi received the "Shiva Chhatrapati Rajya Krida Jivan Gaurav Puraskar", awarded by the Government of Maharashtra to sportspersons from Maharashtra for lifetime contribution to spo,rts in 2005. He is popularly referred to as "Buwa Salvi" and honoured as "Kabaddi Maharashi" or the grand old man of Kabaddi.
Shankarrao Salvi died on 15th February 2007 at the age of 75 in Mumbai. The venue of the 57th Maharashtra State Kabaddi Championship was named after him as "Late Shankarrao Salvi Krida Nagri".
