Kurash, not many know it’s a martial art form in which a 19-year-old girl from a small village of Turmuri near Belagavi has won Bronze medal in her maiden Asian Games event.
Fifth and the youngest daughter of a farmer Yallapa and Shobha, it was a moment of momentous glory when the entire village was celebrating the victory of Malaprabha at the Asian games where she won the bronze medal in Kurash.
She began to play Kho kho while in Primary and then at the age of 11 she started to train for Judo under Coach Jitendra Singh. It was just a year back when she was introduced to Kurash.
She has been training for the game and has been outside in the hostel for the past 9 years, whenever she came home she always helped her parents in the fields.
India’s Kurash contingent, which did not have money to even pay for its kits, has beaten all odds to land two medals at the Asian Games through teenagers Pincky Balhara and Malaprabha Yallappa Jadhav.
Malaprabha bagged Ekalavya award from the government and also Karnataka Olympic Association Award. She has bagged silver medal in the Indo Asian Games held at Kyrgyzstan and pocketed bronze in the Asian Championships held in Pune. She has secured 4 prizes in National level games which include two gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal.