Geeta Phogat is an Indian freestyle wrestler in the Women’s category. She is also the very first woman who has won the gold medal in the category of wrestling in the Commonwealth Games in the year 2010. She is also the very first woman from India who has qualified for the Olympic Games in the category of freestyle wrestling.
Early life
Geeta Phogat was born on December 15, 1988 in Bhiwani, Haryana in a Jaat Family. It was her father, Mahavir Singh Phogat who trained both her and her sister in wrestling. Both her sister, Babita Kumari and her cousin, Vinesh Phogat are first place and gold medal holders in the Common wealth Games.
Career and achievements
Geeta won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in the year 2009 which was held in Jalandhar which is located in Punjab, India. She later became the very first Indian woman to win the Gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in the category of freestyle wrestling which was held in New Delhi, India in the year 2010. She defeated Emily Bensted who was from Australia.
Geeta was also the very first woman from India to have qualified for the Olympic Games. She bagged the gold medal during the Wrestling FILA Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament which was held in Almaty in Kazakhstan in 2012. She later lost the next step against Canadian wrestler Tonya Verbeek by 1-3. During that time, she was under a training and guidance of Coach O.P Yadav and the international expert Ryan Dobo.
During the World Wrestling Championships which was held in the year 2012, Geeta won the third place and bagged the bronze medal under the skillful guidance of the chief coach, O.P Yadav. She faced Maria Gurova in the very first round and beat her with a score of 3-1 but lost the second round against Saori Yoshida of Japan by 5-0. She later faced Akziya Dautbayeva in the repechage match and won it with a score of 3-1, thereby winning the bronze medal.
Geeta lost the 2012 Asian Wrestling Championship against Kanako Murata by a 5-0 score. She later won the bronze medal in the repechage match against Sumiya Erdenechimeg with a score line of 3-0. She even secured the second place, winning the silver medal in the in the 2013 Commonwealth Games in the women’s freestyle 59 kg category.
Geeta won the bronze medal in the freestyle 58 kg category at the Asian Championships which were held in Doha in the year 2015. She lost the first position to the nine-time World Champion Laori Icho by a score of 0-10 at the 2015 World Championship which were held in Las Vegas. She later fought in the repechage match for the bronze medal in which she again lost against Elif Jale Yesilirmak by a score of 0-10.
The latest biographical sports film Dangal directed by Nitesh Tiwari is the movie inspired by her and her sister’s life and her father’s struggles with the society. Her character is being portrayed by Fatima Sana Sheikh.
Husband
Her husband Pawan Kumar is a fellow wrestler. The couple got married on November 20, 2016.
Geeta Phogat – Net Worth and Salary
Her net worth is Rs. 18 crore and her salary is an estimated Rs. 1. 5 crore.