Babita Phogat - Extraordinary Story of the Real Dangal Heroine

Babita Phogat is a well-known Indian female wrestler, a famous athlete, and one of the few women who have won gold for her country in wrestling in the Commonwealth Games. She is a freestyle wrestler who participates in the 55 kg category. She is also an Arjuna Award recipient and, it was conferred to her by the president of India when she was just 25 years old. This woman has played a significant role in changing the mindset of people towards girls in the country.

Babita Phogat – Statistics

• Full Name – Babita Kumari Phogat
• Date of Birth - 20 November 1989 (31 years)
• Place of Birth - Bhiwani, Haryana, India
• Nationality - Indian
• Profession - Freestyle Wrestler
• Coach - Mahavir Singh Phogat
• Marital Status - Married
• Spouse – Vivek Suhag

Babita Phogat - Early Life

Babita was born in the Bhiwani village of Haryana. She is the daughter of Mahavir Singh Phogat, who is a wrestler and a Dronacharya Awardee. Babita had a tough life at the beginning of her career. She belonged to a village where the woman didn't participate in wrestling events. But her father's adamancy and dedication to bring his daughters in wrestling melted everyone's heart. As a result, she started participating in wrestling events at a very young age and won various tournaments at district, state, national, and international levels.

Babita Phogat - Family and Personal Life

Babita is the younger sister of Geeta Phogat. Geeta Phogat is the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold for her country in the Commonwealth Games. Her cousin Vinesh Phogat is also a gold medalist in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her younger sister Ritu Phogat and Sangita Phogat are also International level wrestlers.

Babita married a fellow wrestler Vivek Suhag in June 2019, and the couple welcomed their first child in January 2021.

Babita Phogat – Career Timeline

• 2009 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship - Phogat won the gold medal in the 2009 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship held in Jalandhar.
• 2010 Commonwealth Games - Babita won the silver medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She defeated Ifeoma Christie Nwoye of Nigeria with a score of 0-2, 4-5.
• 2011 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship - She won a gold medal in the 2011 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship held in Melbourne, Australia.
• 2012 World Wrestling Championships - Phogat won bronze in the 2012 World Wrestling Championship by defeating Zamira Rakhmanova of Russia by 5:0.
• 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships - Phogat won the bronze medal in the 2013 World Wrestling Championship in the 55 kg category. She won that with Han Kum-ok of North Korea.
• 2014 Commonwealth Games - In the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Babita won a gold medal in the 55 kg category. She defeated Brittanee Laverdure of Canada by 5:0, 4:2.
• 2014 Asian Games - In the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea, Phogat lost to Saori Yoshida (Olympic Champion) of Japan in the semi-finals. She then lost to Xuechun Zhong of China by 1:3 in the bronze medal play-off.
• 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships - In the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championship, Phogat got defeated by Zhuldyz Eshimova Turtbayeva by 3:6. She missed the chance for a podium finish after losing the bronze medal match.
• 2016 Rio Olympics - Phogat qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics and represented the country with her sister Vinesh Phogat. Unfortunately, she lost in the first round by 1:5.
• 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games - In the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Phogat won a silver medal in the 53 kg category.

Babita Phogat - Political Career

Babita says she got influenced by PM Narendra Modi and his way of handling political stuff. So, she decided to join BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) in 2019. Phogat also fought in the 2019 General Assembly Elections from Dadri. It is a Vidhan Sabha Constituency and, she lost against Somber.

Babita Phogat - Awards and Achievements

Babita has won various awards and accolades in her sports career. Some of the awards won by her are as follows:

• Arjuna Award - 2015
• Gold Medal - Commonwealth Championship, Jalandhar, 2009
• Silver Medal - Commonwealth Games, Delhi, 2010
• Sixth Place - Dave Schultz Memorial Tournament, 2010
• Gold Medal - Commonwealth Championship, 2011
• Bronze Medal - World Championship, Strathcona County, 2012
• Bronze Medal - Dave Schultz Memorial Tournament, 2012
• Bronze Medal - Asian Championship, Delhi, 2013
• Gold Medal - Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, 2014
• Silver Medal - Dave Schultz Memorial Tournament, 2014
• Silver Medal - Commonwealth Games, Goldcoast, 2018

Babita Phogat - Bollywood Film

A Bollywood film got made about the life and struggles of Babita and her elder sister Geeta. Aamir Khan played the role of her father, Mahavir Singh Phogat. Suhani Bhatnagar portrayed the role of younger Babita and, Sanya Malhotra played the role of elder one.

The movie depicts the struggle they had to face while choosing wrestling as a career and how they overcame it. It was a blockbuster on the box office and, both audience and critics loved the movie.

Babita Phogat - Television

Babita participated in the 10th season of Nach Baliye 2019 with her husband, Vivek Suhag. He was his boyfriend/fiancée at the time of the participation. Her sister, Geeta Phogat, also came to the show to support her sister and her boyfriend.

Babita Phogat - Fans and Following

Geeta is pretty active on all her social media accounts. She posts about her personal life and also her fitness training. She likes interacting with her fans now and then and tries to reply to as many messages as possible.

She has almost 300 thousand followers on Instagram and more than 600 thousand followers on Twitter.

Babita Phogat - Wrestling Queen of India

Babita is the true inspiration for all the young athletes in our country. She has made our country proud at a very young age and won various medals for the country. Babita is the epitome of hard work and patience. This lady shows what real hard work and dedication could bring you in life. We all must learn a lesson from her journey.