Assam arm-wrestling championship draws 1,000 athletes in Guwahati

Guwahati’s Assam ArmWrestling State Championship was no ordinary state meet: it put a Champion of Champions in Amit Chowdhury and brought Pro Panja League talent into the same brackets as a huge local field. The event was held on December 7 and 8, 2024, and was organised by the People’s ArmWrestling Association, Assam and People’s ArmWrestling Federation India (PAFI), a setup that showed how firmly the sport has taken root in the state.

The attendance figures told the story of the event’s reach, even if the published counts did not match. ANI put the turnout at more than 500 athletes, while Newsband reported that more than 1,000 competitors took part. Either way, the championship had the scale of a serious competitive gathering, not a novelty meet, and it drew names such as Tridip Mehdi, Siddharth Malakar, Kanan Borgohain, Jagdish Baruah, Ishan Kashyap and Deepanker Mesh into the same field as Chowdhury.

That mix mattered because the championship was not only about state titles. A Pro Panja League release said several top players from the professional circuit featured in the tournament alongside some of the best arm-wrestlers from the country. Pro Panja League describes itself as India’s biggest professional arm-wrestling tournament and says it was launched by Swen Entertainment in 2020, which helps explain why its athletes’ presence in Guwahati carried weight beyond one weekend’s results.

Chowdhury, who belongs to Pro Panja League’s Rarh Bengal Tigers, finished with top honours and was declared the Champion of Champions. That result gave the Assam championship a clear competitive edge: local pullers got a direct look at the pace and pressure of established professional talent, while the visiting names left with another marker of form on a stage that is becoming central to the sport’s Indian calendar.

For Assam, the significance runs past one trophy. A championship that can pull in hundreds, and by one account more than 1,000, athletes while also attracting Pro Panja League names is functioning as both a talent factory and a public showcase. It strengthens the state’s claim as one of India’s most active arm-wrestling hubs and points to Guwahati as a place capable of hosting even bigger events.