15-year-old girl wrestler from JPL-supported academy in Haryana wins Gold at 2022 Asian Championships

25 Jul 2022

Jhajjar, July 25, 2022: Neha Sangwan, a young girl wrestler from Haryana, clinched the Gold medal in the 54-kg women’s wrestling under-15 category, defeating Japan’s Rin Kinoshita at the 2022 Asian Championships held in Manama, Bahrain from July 2-10. Neha had been training at Krishan Akhara wrestling academy, which is supported by Jhajjar Power Limited (JPL) in Haryana’s Khanpur Khurd village.

The academy was supported by JPL since 2014-15 in partnership with a community-based organization and the village leadership. It provides high-quality coaching and training infrastructure for aspiring young wrestlers – both male and female – from Khanpur Khurd and neighboring villages.
Neha hails from Balali village – the hometown of international wrestling champions Geeta and Babita Phogat. She enrolled in Krishan Akhara in 2020 and has won many accolades at the national level championships since then. This includes gold medals at the National School Games in Delhi in the under 36-kg weight category and at the Under 15s Ranking Wrestling Championship hosted by the Wrestling Federation of India in Patna in March-April 2022.
Expressing her joy after the victory, Neha said, “I'm truly grateful for having been given this incredible opportunity, and proud to have won the gold medal for my country at the Asian Championships. I would like to thank my coach -Sajjan Singh, peers and family for their constant support and guidance, as well as Apraava Energy for providing the required infrastructure to train. I plan on continuing the hard work, scaling new heights, and making my country proud.”

Bhaskar Bhattacharjee, Senior Vice President, Jhajjar Power Ltd, said, “We would like congratulate Neha for her fantastic win at the Asian Championships. We are honored that the Krishan Akhara has given us promising champions like Neha who are shining on the international arena. Haryana has produced some truly great wrestling talent over the years, and we are privileged to be able to support it through the academy. We wish Neha all the best for the future competitions and may she bring even more glory to India and Indian wrestling.”

In April 2022 two other female wrestlers from the Krishan Akhara qualified for the national stage. Anjali Gahlawat, a wrestler from Jhamri, qualified for the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship, while Tapsya Gahlawat from Khanpur Kalan qualified for the Sub-Junior Wrestling Championship.
Apraava Energy Information Classification: PROPRIETARY Apraava Energy has established robust sports infrastructure in its catchment villages. It has a sports programme in Jhajjar that has grown and evolved over the years. The number of wrestlers training at the Apraava-supported Krishan Akhara has increased from 7 at the outset to 59 at present. The academy, with its gender-agnostic approach, enables easy access to professional training in wrestling, offered by certified trainers, for both girls and boys at the village level. It has encouraged the local communities to enrol interested girls in the training programme. There are presently 12 girls enrolled with the academy.

About Apraava Energy
Apraava Energy is owned by the CLP Group, one of the largest investor-owned power businesses in Asia, and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a global institutional investor. Founded in 2002, Apraava Energy has gradually grown its footprint to become one of the largest foreign investors in the Indian power sector. Its diversified portfolio comprises over 3,000MW of electricity generation capacity including wind and solar energy projects across seven states, as well as transmission assets.

For further information, please contact:

Apraava Energy
Madhurima Gupta Jain
M: +91 98193 82087
E: madhurima.jain@apraava.com
Edelman India
Santosh Castelino
M: +91 75065 49290
E: Santosh.Castelino@edelman.com

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