MALAKPUR (BAGHPAT), April 24 -- Elections have come and gone and so have leaders in Baghpat, which has changed political colour over the years, but the political players have not offered much to the akharas with the result that all but one of these nurseries for wrestlers has either shifted out of Malakpur village here or closed down because of a paucity of resources.

Regretting that a legacy of over five decades is about to vanish, villagers say that public representatives of the area can protect it but remain apathetic.

Run by the septuagenarian Khalifa (Master) Iqbal, popular as Iqbal Khalifa, the sole surviving akhara in the village has produced many national, international and Olympian grapplers over the past few decades.

"No poli...