Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Birth name | Geeta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Full name | Geeta Kumari Phogat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Indian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | [1] Balali, Haryana, India [1] | 15 December 1988 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 0 in (152 cm) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 62 kg (137 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Freestyle wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coached by | Mahavir Singh Phogat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Updated on 20 October 2016 |
Geeta Phogat (born 15 December 1988) [1] is a freestyle wrestler who won India's first-ever gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. She was also the first Indian female wrestler to have qualified for the Olympic Games. [5]
Geeta Phogat was born in Balali village of Charkhi Dadri district, Haryana. [6] [1] Her father Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former wrestler himself and a Dronacharya Award recipient, is also her coach. [7] [8]
Her sister Babita Kumari and cousin Vinesh Phogat are also Commonwealth Games gold medalists. [9] [10] Both won gold medals in their respective categories in 2014 edition of Commonwealth Games. Another younger sister of Geeta Phogat, Ritu Phogat, too is an international level wrestler and has won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship. Her youngest sister, Sangita Phogat is also a wrestler.
She married fellow wrestler Pawan Kumar on 20 November 2016. [11] The couple had their first child, a boy Arjun Saroha, on 24 December 2019. [12] [13]
Phogat was a contestant in Khatron Ke Khiladi 8 , but was eliminated, securing ninth position. [14]
Phogat won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship held in Jalandhar, Punjab between 19 and 21 December 2009. [15]
She won India's first ever gold medal in women's wrestling at the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, beating Emily Bensted from Australia in the gold medal match with a score of 1–0, 7–0. [16] [17]
Phogat won a gold medal in the Wrestling FILA Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament that concluded at Almaty, Kazakhstan in April 2012. [18] She has undergone rigorous training at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, (NSNIS), Patiala, under the guidance of chief coach O.P. Yadav and foreign expert Ryan Dobo.
Phogat was beaten in her opening fight by Canadian Tonya Verbeek (1–3). [19] She received a chance to win the bronze medal since the Canadian went to the finals. In the repechage round, she lost her first match to Lazareva from Ukraine. [1] [20]
In the 2012 World Wrestling Championships held in Canada, Phogat won the bronze medal. [21]
In the first round, Phogat faced Maria Gurova of Russia, beating her 3:1. The second round brought a 5:0 loss for Phogat against Saori Yoshida of Japan. With the Japanese grappler making the finals, Phogat contested in the repechage round, first against Akziya Dautbayeva of Kazakhstan whom she beat 3:1 and then winning the bronze medal bout 3:0 against Natalya Sinishin of Ukraine. [22]
In the first round of the 2012 Asian Wrestling Championships, Phogat lost to her Japanese opponent Kanako Murata in a 5:0 scoreline. With the Japanese grappler entering the finals, Phogat was able to contest in the bronze medal round and won the bronze medal in the 55 kg beating Sumiya Erdenechimeg from Mongolia 3:1.
At the tournament held in Johannesburg, South Africa, Phogat finished second and won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 59 kg category after losing the final bout to Oluwafunmilayo Adeniyi of Nigeria. [23]
At the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships in Doha, Phogat finished third, winning the bronze medal in the freestyle 58 kg category along with Aiym Abdildina of Kazakhstan. [24] At the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, she was drawn against nine-time world Champion, the Japanese Kaori Icho, and lost to her in the opening round 0–10. With Icho qualifying for the finals, Phogat was given a chance to contest in the repechage for the bronze medal. She again lost 0–10 to her opponent, Elif Jale Yeşilırmak of Turkey. [25]
Aamir Khan's film Dangal is loosely based on Geeta Phogat and her sisters lives. [26] [27] Her role in the movie is played by Fatima Sana Shaikh and her younger self is played by Zaira Wasim. [28] Wrestler Pooja Dhanda was screened and selected to play the role of Babita Phogat in this movie, 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. [29]
The Wrestling events for the 2010 Commonwealth Games were held on Indira Gandhi Arena from 5 to 10 October 2010. Unlike other major wrestling events only one bronze medal was awarded per event.
Narsingh Pancham Yadav is an Indian wrestler. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he won the gold medal in the men's freestyle 74 kg category.
Babita Kumari Phogat is a former Indian professional wrestler and a politician from the state of Haryana. She is a multiple Commonwealth Games medalist, winning the gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games, and silver medals at 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games. When she won the 2014 Commonwealth gold medal, she became the second Indian women wrestler to win a Commonwealth gold after Geeta Phogat, who had won it in 2010.
Pooja Dhanda is an Indian wrestler from Budana village of Hisar district in Haryana, who won Bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships at Budapest in 57 kg weight class. She won Silver medals at 2010 Summer Youth Olympics and 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in 60 kg and 57 kg category respectively. The grappler also won a Bronze at the 2014 Asian Wrestling Championship. Pooja has defeated Olympic and World Championship medalists. Government of India honoured her with the Arjuna award for outstanding performance in the field of Sports.
Bajrang Punia is an Indian politician and a freestyle wrestler. He is a member of the Indian National Congress serving as the Working President of the All India Kisan Congress. Punia joined Congress party along with fellow wrestler Vinesh Phogat in September 2024. In his new role with Congress, Punia is involved in raising the issues of farmers in Haryana as well as in other states.
Vinesh Phogat is an Indian politician and former wrestler, who is a current member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Haryana. She won the 2024 assembly election from Julana constituency representing the Indian National Congress. Previously as a wrestler, she was a multiple-gold medalist of Commonwealth Games, with her wins in 2014, 2018, and 2022.
Sakshi Malik is a former Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the 58 kg category, becoming the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. In 2017, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri, the country's fourth-highest civilian award and in 2024, she became the first Indian wrestler to feature in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is a part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program, along with fellow female wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat.
Pawan Kumar, is an Indian freestyle wrestler. He represented India at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 86 kg weight class in which he won the bronze medal. He also represented India at the 2014 Asian Games in the 86 kg weight class. His spouse is fellow wrestler Geeta Phogat.
Dangal is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao under Aamir Khan Productions with Siddharth Roy Kapur under The Walt Disney Company India. The film stars Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat, a pehlwani amateur wrestler who trains his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari to become India's first world-class female wrestlers. Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra portray the adult versions of the two Phogat sisters, Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar their younger versions, Sakshi Tanwar their mother, and Aparshakti Khurana adult version of their cousin, Ritvik Sahore his younger version, all of them except Shaikh, Tanwar and Sahore in their film debuts.
Sandeep Tomar is an Indian male wrestler who competes in the men's freestyle 55 kg category.
Rahul Balasaheb Aware is an Indian male freestyle wrestler who competes in the men's freestyle 57 kg category. He won the Gold medal in the 57 kg division at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He was a student of the late Olympian Harishchandra Birajdar. At present, he is being trained by his guru and father in law Kaka Pawar. Currently he is employed in the Maharashtra Police as a deputy superintendent of police. He is fondly called "Nana" by his friends and family.
Mahavir Singh Phogat is an Indian amateur wrestler, senior Olympics coach and politician. He is the trainer and father of the Phogat sisters. The Hindi biographical film Dangal is loosely based on his life.
Anita Sheoran is a female wrestler from India. She has won gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games along with winning multiple medals at the Asian Wrestling Championships and the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships.
Mausam Khatri is a freestyle wrestler from India. He was a bronze medallist in the 2010 Asian Games. He has also been Commonwealth champion twice, along with being the winner of gold medal in the 2016 South Asian Games.
The Phogat sisters are six sisters from Haryana, India, all of whom are wrestlers. In order of their birth, they are Geeta, Babita, Priyanka, Ritu, Vinesh, and Sangeeta. Geeta, Babita, Ritu, and Sangeeta are daughters of former wrestler and coach Mahavir Singh Phogat. Priyanka and Vinesh were brought up by Mahavir after their father, Rajpal Phogat, died when they were young. Mahavir trained all six of them in wrestling in their home village of Balali in Bhiwani district.
Priyanka Phogat is an Indian female wrestler who won a silver medal at the 2016 Asian Wrestling Championships.
Ritu Kumari Phogat is an Indian mixed martial artist who competed in the Atomweight division of ONE Championship. She is also a female wrestler who won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship.
Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi is an Indian professional wrestler and coach.
Akhada: The Authorized Biography of Mahavir Singh Phogat is the 2016 autobiography of the Indian wrestling coach and amateur wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat. The book is his official autobiography by Saurabh Duggal.
Divya Kakran is a freestyle wrestler from India. Divya has won 60 medals, including 17 gold medals in the Delhi State Championship, and has won the Bharat Kesari title eight times. She has been vocal about being disappointed by the lack of support from the government of Delhi in her pursuit for a medal at the Asian Games in 2018, despite writing to the government about her poor financial background. Divya is presently employed with the Indian Railways as senior ticket examiner.