Mahavir Singh Phogat

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Mahavir Singh Phogat
Mahavir Singh Phogat at the special screening of 'Dangal'.jpg
Phogat in 2016
Personal information
Nationality Indian
Born Bhiwani, Haryana, India
SpouseDaya Kaur
Sport
CountryIndia
Sport Wrestling
Now coaching Geeta Phogat, Babita Kumari, Ritu Phogat, Vinesh Phogat, Priyanka Phogat

Mahavir Singh Phogat is an Indian amateur wrestler, senior Olympics coach and politician. [1] [2] He is the trainer and father of the Phogat sisters. [3] The Hindi biographical film Dangal is loosely based on his life.

Contents

Mahavir Singh Phogat was awarded the Dronacharya Award by the Government of India in 2016. [4] [5] He is the father and coach of Geeta Phogat, [6] [7] who won India's first gold medal in women's wrestling in the 55 kg freestyle category at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the first Indian woman wrestler to have qualified for the Olympics, and Babita Kumari, who won a bronze medal at the 2012 World Wrestling Championships, [8] and won the gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games. [9] Phogat's niece, Vinesh Phogat, was also a Commonwealth Games gold medalist and also won gold medal at Asian games 2018. [10] [11]

Personal life

Phogat was born in Bhiwani district of Haryana. [6] [12] and hails from Balali in Charkhi Dadri district. [13] He is married to Daya Shobha Kaur and has four daughters, Geeta, Babita, Ritu, and Sangita respectively. As a foster father, he also took care of his nieces Vinesh and Priyanka, children of his brother who was killed in a land dispute. All the 6 Phogats are trained in wrestling by Mahavir. While Geeta, Babita and Vinesh are international players, Ritu has won a gold medal at the national championship and Priyanka and Sangeeta have won medals in age-level international championships.

Biographical film

The Indian biographical film Dangal is based on Singh's life and the journey of his daughters towards success. Aamir Khan plays the role of Mahavir Singh Phogat, while Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra play the roles of his daughters Geeta and Babita respectively. [14] [15] [16] [17]

Honours

Mahavir Singh receiving the Dronacharya Award from President Pranab Mukherjee in August 2016 The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Dronacharya Award for the year-2016 to Shri Mahabir Singh for Wrestling (Lifetime), in a glittering ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on August 29, 2016.jpg
Mahavir Singh receiving the Dronacharya Award from President Pranab Mukherjee in August 2016

National Honours

Book

Akhada is the authorised biography of Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former wrestler and a coach. The book is penned by sports journalist Sourabh Duggal and was released on 21 December 2016 at the Chandigarh Press Club. [18] It traces Mahavir Phogat's journey with his daughters and nieces hailing from a small village in Haryana to winning the medals for the country. [19]

Related Research Articles

Charkhi Dadri is a city and the headquarters of Charkhi Dadri district in the Indian state of Haryana, about 90 km from the national capital Delhi. The town was made by joining the villages of Charkhi and Dadri after urban development. Charkhi Dadri is on NH 148B between Narnaul to Bathinda and NH 348B between Meerut to Pilani segment passing through the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandgi Ram</span> Indian wrestler (1937–2010)

Chandgi Ram Kaliraman, often referred to as Master Chandgi Ram, was a freestyle wrestler from India. He won gold medal in the 1970 Asian Games and represented India in the 1972 Summer Olympics. Along with amateur wrestling, he was very active in the traditional Indian wrestling, where he had won all major titles, including Hind Kesari, Bharat Kesari, Bharat Bhim, Rustom-e-Hind and Maha Bharat Kesari.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geeta Phogat</span> Indian freestyle wrestler (born 1988)

Geeta Phogat is a freestyle wrestler who won India's first-ever gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. She is also the first Indian female wrestler to have qualified for the Olympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babita Kumari</span> Indian wrestler (born 1989)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pooja Dhanda</span> Indian wrestler (born 1994)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fatima Sana Shaikh</span> Indian film actress (born 1992)

Fatima Sana Shaikh is an Indian actress, who works in Hindi films. Shaikh appeared as a child artist in such films as Chachi 420 (1997) and One 2 Ka 4 (2001). In 2016, she portrayed wrestler Geeta Phogat in the top-grossing sports film Dangal. She has since starred in the streaming projects Ludo (2020), Ajeeb Daastaans (2021) and Modern Love Mumbai (2022), and portrayed Indira Gandhi in the biographical drama Sam Bahadur (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vinesh Phogat</span> Indian politician and former wrestler

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.

Louisa Porogovska is a British freestyle wrestler. She competed for England in the women's freestyle 55 kg event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal.

<i>Dangal</i> (2016 film) 2016 film directed by Nitesh Tiwari

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zaira Wasim</span> Indian actress (b. 2000)

Zaira Wasim is an Indian former actress who worked in Hindi films. The recipient of numerous accolades, including a Filmfare Award and a National Film Award, Wasim was honoured with the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phogat sisters</span> Family of female wrestlers

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.

Balali is a village in the Charkhi Dadri district of Haryana State, India.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charkhi Dadri district</span> District of Haryana in India

Charkhi Dadri District is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in north west India near Rajasthan border, but not sharing border with Rajasthan. Created on 1 December 2016, the district headquarters is the city of Charkhi Dadri.

Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi is an Indian professional wrestler and coach.

<i>Akhada: The Authorized Biography of Mahavir Singh Phogat</i> Autobiography of the Indian amateur wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat

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.

<i>Dangal</i> (soundtrack) 2016 soundtrack album by Pritam

Dangal is the soundtrack album for the 2016 Hindi sports biopic film of the same name. The film directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao and Siddharth Roy Kapur, features music composed by Pritam and lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya in Hindi, Rajesh Malarvannan in Tamil and Rajshri Sudhakar in Telugu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrestling Federation of India</span> Sport governing body

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is the premier governing body of wrestling in India. It is headquartered in New Delhi and affiliated to the United World Wrestling (UWW), which makes it the internationally recognized wrestling regulation body of India. Currently headed by Sanjay Singh, the key role of the body is to organize the training and support of wrestlers across India for both domestic as well as international wrestling events. It also regulates wrestling in India as all other state-level wrestling federations across the country fall under its jurisdiction.

References

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