Babita Phaugat

Babita Phogat

Babita Phaugat (Babita Kumari) (born: 20.11.1989) is from village Balali, district Charkhi Dadri in Haryana. She is from Phougat gotra Jat family. She won the gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games. She also won silver medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games, a bronze medal at the 2012 World Wrestling Championships.

Her family

Babita is the sister of India's first gold medalist in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games, Geeta Phogat and the daughter of wrestler and Dronacharya Award recipient Mahavir Singh Phogat. She has a cousin Vinesh Phogat who also won gold, in the 48 kg category, at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Babita, along with her sister and cousin, have contributed to a change in mindset and attitude towards girls and women in their village in Haryana.

Her youngest sister, Ritu Phogat, too is an international level wrestler and has won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship. Her younger sister, Sangeeta Phogat is also a wrestler.

Career

2009: Commonwealth Wrestling Championship - In the tournament in Jalandhar, Punjab, Babita won the gold medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category.

2010: Commonwealth Games - At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Babita won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category after being defeated by Ifeoma Christi Nwoye of Nigeria in the gold medal match with the score of 0–2, 4–5.

2011: Commonwealth Wrestling Championship - In the tournament held in Melbourne, Australia, Babita won the gold medal in the women's freestyle 48 kg category.

2012: World Wrestling Championships - In the Round of 16 of the 2012 World Wrestling Championships, Babita faced Hsin-Ju Chiu of Taipei whom she beat 5:0. Her quarter-finals opponent was Risako Kawai of Japan whom she beat 5:0 to qualify for the semi-finals. She lost 1:3 to Jessica Anne Marie MacDonald of Canada in the semi-finals. She was then able to contest for the bronze medal which she won in the women's freestyle 51 kg category by beating Zamira Rakhmanova of Russia 5:0.

2013: Asian Wrestling Championships - At the 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships tournament in New Delhi, India, Babita won the bronze medal in the women's freestyle 55 kg category along with Han Kum-ok of North Korea.

2014: Commonwealth Games - In the women's freestyle 55 kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Babita's first opponent in the quarter-finals was Kathryn Marsh of Scotland whom she beat 9–2, 4–0 (classification points 4:1). Her opponent in the semi-finals was Louisa Porogovska of England whom she beat 2–0 (classification points 5:0) – victory by fall (wrestling terminology). In the gold medal bout, she was up against Brittanee Laverdure of Canada whom she beat 5–0, 4–2 (classification points 3:1) to win the gold medal.

2014: Asian Games - Babita was not able to repeat her Commonwealth Games feat at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. In the Round of 16 of the women's freestyle 55 kg category, she faced Srey Mao Dorn of Mongolia whom she beat 5:0. In the quarter-finals, she faced Aiym Abdildina of Kazakhstan whom she beat 3:1. She lost 0:4 to Olympic champion Saori Yoshida of Japan in the semi-finals. She was able to contest for the bronze medal but lost 1:3 to her opponent Xuechun Zhong of China.

2015: Asian Wrestling Championships - Babita defeated Abdy Kadyrova Elsa of Kyrgyzstan 10–0 in the quarterfinal of the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships, after getting the better of Zukhra Mustanova of Uzbekistan by the same margin in the qualification round.

Babita failed to enter the final as she lost her semifinal bout to Pak Yong-Mi of North Korea, losing in the last five seconds.

With a chance for a podium finish, Babita lost to Zhuldyz Eshimova-Turtbayeva of Kazakhstan 3–6 in the bronze medal play-off.[14][15] 2016 Rio Olympics

Babita became the third and final entry from India in the women's wrestling for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She represented India along with her cousin Vinesh Phogat. She qualified for the Rio Games after her opponent failed a doping test in the qualifying tournament and the quota was given to India.

Babita lost in the first round 1–5.

2018: Gold Coast CommonWealth Games - Babita Kumari Phogat won the silver medal in women’s 53kg freestyle wrestling at 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

Geeta & Babita: India's wrestling sisters

• Geeta & Babita: India's wrestling sisters: Listen NDTV Video

Silver medal in Common wealth Games 2010 at Delhi

She won Silver medal in Common wealth Games 2010 at Delhi in 55 Kg wrestling.

Babita loses final, wins hearts

Babita phogat with sister Geeta phogat

Reference - Hindustan Times New Delhi, October 09, 2010

Ten years ago when they started practicing wrestling in their backyard, villagers looked at them scornfully; some even tried to dissuade them against taking up the sport. But Geeta, who won a gold on Thursday, and sister Babita, who managed a silver on Friday, withstood the villagers' scorn stoically. Now, wrestling has made them the pride of the village.

Today, when Babita, took to the mat in the CWG, more than 100 villagers travelled all the way from Balali (Bhiwani) to watch her win a medal. In fact, some have literally been camping at the wrestling arena. On Thursday, they roared when Geeta won gold in 55 kg.

Ironically, it's these villagers, who are now consoling Babita for missing gold on Friday. "We will celebrate her silver," they said. "Once they are back, we will throw a big party."

It's a rare occasion when two sisters have won a medal each for India at the same Games. "We were expecting gold from Babita, but silver in the Commonwealth Games is not a small achievement," said Ramesh of Balali village.

Babita, who was inconsolable after losing her final bout, said, "I am really disappointed. But it was heartening to see supporters from my village here.

"Earlier, the villagers were against me for introducing the girls to wrestling and I came across a lot of sarcasm," said the sisters' father, Mahavir Singh. "But now, you can see for yourself."

Arjun Award - 2015

Babita Kumari is winner of Arjun Award - 2015 in Wrestling.

Film Dangal

The film Dangal loosely based on the story of her and her sister which released on 23 December 2016. Babita was portrayed by Sanya Malhotra and her younger self by Suhani Bhatnagar. Wrestler Pooja Dhanda was screened and originally selected to play the role of Babita Kumari Phogat in blockbuster Dangal (film) which she could not play due to an injury, and later she went on to defeat senior Phogat sister Geeta Phogat in the real life national championship.

Marriage

Babita Phogat tied knots with wrestler Vivek Sihag on December 1, 2019.

दंगल गर्ल बबीता फोगाट आठ फेरे लेकर भारत केसरी पहलवान विवेक सुहाग के साथ शादी के बंधन में बंध गईं। शादी में सात पेरे होते है लेकिन इन दोनों ने सात फेरों की बजाय आठ फेरे लिए। एक एक्सट्रा फेरा लेने के पीछे इस जोड़े का मकसद कुछ अनोखा था..ये एक्स्ट्रा फेरा बेटी बचाओ-बेटी पढ़ाओ का संदेश के प्रमोशन के लिए था। भिवानी के बलाली गांव में बड़े ही साधारण तरीके से संपन्न हुए इस शादी समारोह में परिवार के अलावा कई विदेशी पहलवान भी मौजूद थे। बबीता के परिवार के लोगों ने दूल्हे विवेक और शादी में आए मेहमानों के लिए खास तौर पर हरियाणवी देसी खाना तैयार कराया जिसमें देशी घी का हलवा, सरसों का साग, खीर-चूरमा, बाजरा रोटी, चटनी सहित सभी व्यंजन थे।

Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections in 2019

Babita Phogat also fought election for MLA seat from Dadri constituency in 2019, on BJP Party's ticket. However, she lost it from Independent rival, Somveer Sangwan.

External links

• Listen NDTV Khabar.com
• Geeta Phogat at Wikipedia
• http://fciwomenswrestling.com/indias-stars-geeta-and-babita/
• https://www.amarujala.com/photo-gallery/fashion/wrestler-babita-phogat-married-to-vivek-suhag-wedding-looks

References

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