If we think of Indian freestyle wrestling, then the name of Phogat sisters come to our mind straight away. Wrestling is in their DNA. Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former wrestler himself and a Dronacharya awardee is also their father and a mentor as well. Under his watchful eye, they trained and honed their skills right from the beginning. Over the years Geeta, Babita brought laurels to the nation. Following their footstep is their younger sisters Ritu and Sangeeta Phogat. Ritu, in fact, won gold in Commonwealth wrestling championship back in 2016.
Born in 1988, Geeta Phogat is a legend in Indian wrestling. She bagged the gold medal at Commonwealth Games, New Delhi 2010. By doing so she became the first female Indian wrestler to achieve that feet and qualified for the Olympics. Later on, Geeta went on to win bronze in 2012 and 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships respectively.
Her younger sister Babita Kumari is a well-decorated wrestler herself. She did India proud by winning medals in commonwealth games. She has a cousin Vinesh Phogat who also won gold in 2018 commonwealth games.
Phogat sisters became a household name after their life story was brought to the silver screen in superhit movie “Dangal”. But it seems that success has got better of them. Geeta, Babita along with their siblings are in the news for wrong reasons. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) axed all four of them from the national camp in Lucknow for disciplinary issues. The wrestlers selected for the national camp are expected to report at the national camp within 3 days. It is learned that Geeta, Babita, and 11 others weren’t present physically and did not show any cause for their absence from the national camp.
The federation’s action against the wrestlers means they could be barred from the Asian Games trial scheduled later this month. The Asian Games is scheduled to be held in August-September later this year at Indonesia.
However, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (President, WFI) hinted that the wrestlers could be given a second chance if they are able to give a satisfactory explanation for their action.
Another big name to have axed from the camp is Sakshi Malik who won a bronze medal in Rio Olympics. With the Asian Games just around the corner, it will be interesting to see how this drama unfolds.