She is a picture of concentration. Away from the mat, younger sister Ritu is shadow practising and pumping herself up. For Geeta Phogat, it is time to study the atmosphere, the opponent and guide Ritu. Not really chaperone but she is a kind of mentor. “Mujhse chhoti hai naa (She is younger than me),” Geeta flashes a disarming smile. Hard to imagine she is the icon of women wrestling. She hardly appears one. Conscious that she is under a constant gaze, Geeta keeps flicking her loose hair back, throws a glance at Ritu’s prospective opponent winning her bout, acknowledges greetings from fans and strangers and returns to the conversation with a flourish, making her points with well-trained caution.
The KD Jadhav Hall is hosting the National Wrestling Championship and the Phogat sisters, Vinesh and Ritu, are in the reckoning for honours. At the end of it they win the gold in their respective categories. Strangely, there is no trace of the contrived joy that champions reserve for the camera in these times. “Jeetna to tha pukka (victory was certain),” Geeta remarks, aptly summing up the show by her sisters.
Geeta won India’s first ever gold in women’s wrestling (in the 55 kg freestyle category) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. She and (cousin) Babita later claimed a bronze medal each in the Women’s World Wrestling Championship in Canada in 2012. A star was born six years ago but she has remained grounded. Success has not at all spoilt the young lady’s resolve to reach out to the female wrestling fraternity, rope in more and more competitors and popularise the sport even in metros.
“Why should women’s wrestling be confined to rural areas?” asks Geeta, who was raised in rustic surroundings in Haryana’s Bhiwani district. Her father was a wrestler and dreamt of pushing his daughters into the competitive world by training them to fight in mud pits. “He was more excited than us. He had the required knowledge to train and groom us. We had the passion too,” she recalls.
Passion for wrestling? Really? “Sort of,” she smiles. “It was my father’s passion actually. I had never wished to become a wrestler. I was 12 when my father initiated me into this sport. I did it to basically enjoy. Gradually, I liked it and then it became a passion.”
There was opposition to the Phogat sisters taking to wrestling. In Haryana it can be hard to convince people. “We had to wrestle against boys because there were no girls to train with,” she remembers. That was unthinkable. A taboo in her society. “We could not have escaped training because the akhara (pit) was at home. There was a lot of physical work, push ups, endurance training. We had to match the strength of the boys (my cousins). What if I was a girl? There was no respite, no excuse, no running away from the hard work.”
The senior Phogat (Mahavir Singh) was ridiculed and criticised for asking the girls to seek a career in wrestling. But the man had vision and was least worried when elders warned him his daughters would not find grooms. He backed the girls. “We had our hair cut and wore shorts during training. People would tell me who would marry you. Your ears would be disfigured from wrestling. It is a men’s sport. But I looked at my father and did not back out. I had to wrestle for him. I had to win for him. I was not a born wrestler. But I feared my father.”
There were times when Geeta thought of giving up. “When my father would get angry, sometimes punish me hard too, I would feel sad. My mother would stand by me but my father was strict and demanding. How would he react if I did not succeed? He wanted to live his dreams through us. I could not have let him down. More than devotion it was the fear of the father that pushed me and my sisters into this sport. We have absolutely no regrets and owe it to him. By the way, I am still waiting for appreciation from him. I know he expects bigger things from me.”
The face of women’s wrestling in India, Geeta, 27, loves her father for shaping her career. “I may have studied a bit but had I not been a wrestler I would have been married four years ago. That is how things are with girls in our society. Things have looked better in recent times but there is a lot to be done for girls, especially in my state.”
What is her image of a confident and happy girl? “A girl should be allowed the freedom to plan her life and career. Girl should be allowed to wear what she wishes to. The elders of our society should recognise and support the importance of educating the daughter of the house. To me, education is must for improving the state of girls in our society.”
What irks her? “I am disturbed when I read about cases of eve teasing, molestation, rape…Such incidents should be dealt with severely. Zero tolerance. Society must respect daughters. It pains me when I see women in distress, tortured by insensitive people. It is sad to say that women are not safe in our country.” Has she ever been confronted anti-social elements? “So far no one has dared. They probably know I can defend myself. I am a police inspector too,” Geeta breaks into laughter.
Her achievements are being documented by Nitesh Tiwari in Dangal where Aamir Khan is playing Mahavir. It is one of the most sought after films of 2016 and Geeta is excited that the country’s biggest star is playing her father. “It is about my father and his hard work, about us, the sisters excelling in wrestling. I am sure the film would inspire young girls because my father has given his all to groom us. We would be giving her inputs but it is more about my father and his work.”
Her day begins at 4 in the morning and training in the fields triggers her disciplined day. “I am training for Rio Olympics. A medal there would make my family happy. If I win we would have more girls taking to wrestling. And that would make me happy. Wrestling is my life.” She is surrounded by fans, mostly boys, and Geeta is at her best with the wrestling fraternity adoring and pampering her. She deserves every bit of it.
Courtesy of: The Hindu