New Delhi, Sep 10 - He looks frail and can barely stand, but every morning he is at his akhara in Azadpur Mandi here to pack power into his trainees. Chand Roop has raised a host of international wrestlers and at 80 is still going strong.

For Chand Roop, the akhara - traditional Indian training school for wrestling - is his home and the 300 trainees there his family. He looks after their accommodation and other requirements too.

'I don't know why the government is not recognising my contribution. I have been waiting to get the Dronacharya Award (for coaches) for a long time,' Chand Roop told IANS with sullen eyes.

'Four of my wrestlers won medals at the Commonwealth Games 2007. The government was supposed to give me a cash prize for coaching them, but they gave me the money for only one medal. I train hundreds of wrestlers and this is the treatment I have been meted out.'

It was in 1965, when he was in the army, that Chand Roop started training wrestlers, the notable among them being Vijay Kumar Valmiky, who created a record by winning the sporting honours Bharat Kumar and Bharat Kesri at the same time, and Netra Pal, Bharat Kesari and a Commonwealth silver medallist.

His pupils also include four Arjuna Awardees, nine Bharat Kesaris and hundreds of international-level wrestlers. He is also the coach of young talent Joginder Kumar, the youngest wrestler to become a Bharat Kesari at the age of 18 who is also a gold medallist in the 2009 junior Asian Championship.

It was not easy for Chand Roop to have his own akhara, but with his dedication he realised his dream in 1980.

'I never sought contribution from anybody. I faced strong opposition from my family, but wrestling is my passion and I managed to pull it off with my pension money,' Chand Roop told IANS.

Chand Roop has shifted from his village in Haryana and lives at the akhara, single-mindedly giving shape to the dreams of his trainees.

Two of his pupil, Joginder Kumar (120 kg, freestyle) and Dharmender Dalal (120 kg, Greco-Roman) will be representing India at the World Wrestling Championship from Sep 24.