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Sunny Fulmali: Pune Teenager Who Won Gold for India Lives in Tarpaulin Shelter

By Lokmat Times Desk | Updated: November 6, 2025 18:13 IST

Sunny Fulmali, a 17-year-old wrestler from Pune, who won a gold medal for India at the Asian Youth Wrestling ...

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Sunny Fulmali, a 17-year-old wrestler from Pune, who won a gold medal for India at the Asian Youth Wrestling Championship in Bahrain, lives in a tarpaulin makeshift hut. A video shared by the news agency ANI shows Sunny wearing a blue sports dress with the Indian National flag on the jacket, walking on the muddy road to his home. 

In a video, it can be seen that the floor of the house doesn't have tiles or walls. Sunny's mother was seeing dong household work in the house, which looks like a tent with bamboo in the middle. 

Sunny said he was trained by his father along with his brother, after which he went under professional training by his current coach paid all his expenses for the last 4 to 5 years. "My grandfather used to wrestle in the village. He made my father a wrestler... My father trained my brothers and me," he said.

Also Read | The Wrestling Revolution: How Dayaan Farooqui and Akhil Gupta Are Building India's Next Big League After IPL.

"My trainer then adopted me and paid for all my expenses for 4 to 5 years," Sunny told ANI. He said that we also work in the agricultural field. 

Sunny Fulmali is originally from the Beed district of Maharashtra. A few years back Fulmali family came to Lohegaon in Pune to earn a living. They started living in a hut-like house there. The situation of Sunny's family, who live in a hut, is very poor. His father travels from village to village to tell fortunes with a Nandi bull, while his mother sells needles and dabhan to earn a living. 

Sunny said he took coaching from Vastad Somnath Moze and Sadashiv Rakhpasare at the Raiba Talmit in Lohegaon. Seeing his athleticism and physical effort, he was admitted to the Janata Raja Wrestling Centre in Lonikand. He prepared himself by working hard under the guidance of veteran Sandeep Bhondve. Sunny is now studying in class 10th and want to win gold in Olympic.

Tags: puneWrestling Federation Of IndiaBahrainLohegaon
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