Nagaland’s Naga wrestling: the village sport that refuses to gentrify

In the paddy fields of Wokha district, Naga wrestling — a grip-and-toss contest with its own elaborate rules — draws crowds that dwarf any modern tournament.

The sport is deliberately local: bouts in the mud, refereed by elders, with stakes in rice beer and honour.

Efforts to ‘professionalise’ it have been resisted by the very communities that love it. ‘Some sports should stay of the village,’ one organiser said.