Geeta Phogat is not new to attention. The woman wrestler won the 55kg freestyle gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and will be the only female wrestler in India’s contingent to the Olympics.
She is also a gold medallist at the 2009 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships.
Hailing from the small town of Balali in Haryana, she has already become a part of history by qualifying for the London Games.
The Olympics is a different ball game. Reuters
With a record which boasts of three consecutive Asian Cadet Championships (2003, 2004, 2005), Geeta is entering the competition on a very positive note, but this day has come with it’s difficulties: ”Earlier no one used to take women wrestling seriously. But now even the federation takes us seriously and expects from us. It is difficult to become a wrestler.
“It is pretty expensive but my father motivated us all into the sport irrespective of people worrying about things like who will marry us.”
But there is a huge pressure of expectancy on her shoulders: “If I won’t win a medal my father will feel that his sacrifice was in vain.”
Phogat is already a winner at every level she has competed, but at the London Olympics, she will be at the highest stage of world sport.
