Strength sports fans in India are in for a blast right at the start of the new year with the highly anticipated AISW 5.0, brought to you by All India Strength Wars (AISW), the biggest Calisthenics and Streetworkout competition organizer in Asia.
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AISW 5.0 will take place from 25th to 28th January in Malad, Mumbai and will feature multiple strength sports categories, from calisthenics to streetlifting, as well as arm wrestling, MMA and much more. The arm wrestling category marks one more specialty, as it includes Pro Panja– the No.1 Arm Wrestling Tournament and League in the World.
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The event is special in more than one way, as it will offer the respective winners a one-of-a-kind opportunity to represent India at the World Cup.
Sports India Show recently got in touch with Rajan Sharma, the co-founder of AISW, where he discussed about the upcoming event, as well as the influence its creating on the country’s strength sports and calisthenics community.
1) Please tell our readers something about AISW? Like what was your vision when you started it?
“The vision was to create a platform for some underdog athletes who don’t have much resources, and they just practice on their own, practice on the streets. They are very talented but they don’t have a platform where they can showcase their talent.
It started with calisthenics because I practice calisthenics since 2014. I was the first person to start calisthenics in India, and from 2014 to 2018 I did calisthenics. In 2018, I met our co-founder Rohan and together we opened this platform.”
“This is the first competition in India where we have invited the athletes from all over the country, from different states and provided them a platform where they can come and showcase their talent. The vision was that all the strength sports that exist, be it calisthenics, streetlifting as well as arm wrestling, parkour and MMA going forward, and create a platform for all of them. Usually what happens is these things are left out. In India, more focus is on bodybuilding and aesthetics… nobody focuses on strength.”
2) How many members do you have nation wide?
“We have quite a large team. We also have two training centers in Mumbai.”
3) How many events have you done till now? What’s the future of this internationally?
“We have done four events from 2018 till now and this is going to be our fifth event. In this event, AISW 5.0, the winner will be representing India at the World Cup. This is the main highlight and this is the first of its kind in India.”
4) Please tell us something about your event in Mumbai? How many categories are there?
“Calisthenics includes several categories, such as freestyle- which you’ve seen in videos of people swinging on bars and gymnastics, then there’s endurance where there will be pull up, push up competitions. Then there’s streetlifting which is very similar to powerlifting. This time we have also included arm wrestling and parkour, as well as trekking. The event is for three days- 26th, 27th and 28th January and there will be some activity each day.”
5) What led you to include Pro Panja League in it?
“Last time, we had arm wrestling at our last event which was 4.0 and people really loved it. The calisthenics athletes are usually very strong and in arm wrestling, you need to be naturally strong as well. The arm wrestling athletes who participated gave a tough competition. It was the request of the athletes to include arm wrestling this time as well. As our vision is big, we also thought of doing something top level so we approached Pro Panja, ‘why don’t you work with us? A good platform will be provided and we can also do it on the high level’. That’s how we got in touch with each other.”
