A 1910 England tour for Indian wrestlers organised by a wrestling promoter called R.B.Benjamin caught the fascination of the local press, with one British tabloid labeling it ‘The Invasion of the Indian Wrestlers’. While initially disqualified from performing, the persistence of Gama’s managers saw him circumventing the rules of the competition, where he would issue an
open challenge to all the leading wrestlers of the time — such as Frank Gotch, now considered the father of American Wrestling, Polish Legend Stanislaus Zbyszko, ‘Russian Lion’ Georges Hackenschmidt, and Japanese Judo great Taro Miyake.
Gama is said to have defeated an American Champion named Benjamin Roller in under three minutes as well as thirty Japanese wrestlers, which prompted the organisers of the competition to give him his match against the reigning world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko. The day of the match saw the shorter and lighter Gama shock Stanislaus with his strength, leaving Stanislaus to hold his ground on the mat for the rest of the match to avoid defeat. The match was called off at dusk with a rematch scheduled for the next day, and as luck would have it, Stanislaus never showed up for the rematch. Gama was declared the world champion by default, earning the prestigious title of Rustam-e-Zamana.
This glorious wrestler, once again, encountered Stanislaus in 1928 at the behest of Bhupinder Singh in Patiala where a massive stadium was put in place for a crowd of 50,000, with some reports putting the finally tally of audience at a 1,00,000. The 50-year-old Gama faced Stanislaus in a very short contest, said to last only for 42 seconds, where Gama emerged triumphant yet again. His last professional bout came in 1929 against Swedish wrestler Jesse Peterson, where he ensured that his career ended with him undefeated.
London
Goonga
Pehelwan
