Indian arm wrestling legend Sunil Kumar succumbs to Dengue

The 38-year-old won the National Arm Wrestling Championship six times during his illustrious career.

Pro Panja League (PPL) condoled the sad demise of Indian arm wrestler Sunil Kumar, who recently passed away at the age of 38 following his battle with dengue. To honour his legacy, the arm-wrestling organisation has named “The Player of the Series” award after him.

Hailing from Punjab, Sunil Kumar was a six-time national arm-wrestling champion and a five-time state-level champion. He was also Pro Panja League’s inaugural heavyweight champion, winning the league’s ranking tournament in a great fashion last year in Delhi. He then went on to win the ‘Mega Champion’ belt after defeating the league’s 100+ kg champion Sanjay Deswal at the ‘Super Match’ event. His last arm-wrestling bout took place in March 2021 in Goa on the undercard of boxing superstar Vijender Singh’s pro boxing fight against Artysh Lopsan.

Sunil Kumar has been one of the finest ambassadors of arm-wrestling in the country and leaves behind a lasting legacy that has inspired numerous youngsters to take up the sport. Despite his intimidating persona on the arm-wrestling table, he was a soft-spoken, humble, and respectful person off it, never engaging in ‘trash talk’ for promotion which is usually the norm around the world.

Expressing his condolences, owner of Pro Panja League Parvin Dabas says, “Sunil Kumar’s demise is not just a loss to the Pro Panja League as he was one of our most outstanding athletes, but also a personal loss to me."

"I will always cherish all our conversations in which Sunil ji imparted his advice and discussed the sport of arm wrestling at length with me. I cannot imagine what his parents and family are going through, but we would like to immortalise his memory by naming our Player of the Series Award after him,” he concluded.

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