Kusti or Kushti is India’s traditional wrestling on soil – an ancient sport which is gradually dying out in most parts of India due to the government’s pressures on the traditional Kusti/Kushti schools to abandon ways of the past, embrace international wrestling standards and win medals at the Olympics…Kolhapur is one city where Kusti/Kushti is still thriving. Rural families from the area send their boys to the city’s Thalims or Akharas – traditional wrestling schools, where the young men dedicate themselves entirely to the sport. Grueling daily training, strict diet and celibacy for the duration of their careers are necessary if they hope to ever achieve their dream – to become a champion ‘pailwan’ (wrestler), in front of crowds which can reach as many 20,000 spectators. “I am a tirelessly curious world wanderer and a travel/documentary photographer. My main passion lies in capturing disappearing ancient cultures and the human condition in unique, challenging situations. My range of subjects is fairly broad, but whether I am photographing nomadic shepherds in India, life in the last traditional villages of Eastern Europe or sulfur miners working in a volcanic crater, my common aim is always the same – to capture the human element. I freelance and shoot documentary photo stories and I write eBooks, mostly in collaboration with Craft & Vision as well as Digital Photo School. Much of my travel/documentary photography is represented by Getty Images, while my cultural portraits, both colour and black and white are in the private collections of photo lovers and collectors worldwide.” So for more pictures or to get in touch with Mitchell Kanashkevich just follow the link bellow this beautiful pictures of indian kushti wrestlers we 5elect.
www.mitchellk.photoshelter.com