The Phogat sisters are six sisters from

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

, India, all of whom are

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

s. In order of their birth, they are Geeta,

Babita Babita Shivdasani-Kapoor (born 20 April 1947), also known simply as Babita or Babita Kapoor, is a former Indian actress who appeared in Hindi-language films. The daughter of actor Hari Shivdasani, she is the first cousin of her contemporary a ...

Priyanka ''Priyanka'' is a popular female given name in Hindu and Buddhist cultures. It is a name derived from the Sanskrit word 'Priyankera' or 'Priyankara', meaning someone or something that is amiable, lovable, or makes you happy and the one who has lov ...

, Ritu, Vinesh, and Sangeeta. While Geeta, Babita, Ritu, and Sangeeta are daughters of former wrestler and coach Mahavir Singh Phogat, Priyanka and Vinesh were brought up by Mahavir after their father, who is the younger brother of Mahavir, died when they were young. Mahavir trained all six of them in wrestling in their home village of Balali in

Bhiwani district Bhiwani district is one of the 22 districts of the northern Indian state of Haryana. Created on 22 December 1972, the district was the largest district of the state by area, before the creation of Charkhi Dadri as a separate district, as it occu ...

. Three of the Phogat sisters, Geeta, Babita, and Vinesh, are gold medalists in different weight categories at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, while Priyanka has won a silver medal at the Asian Championships. Ritu is a National Championships gold medalist and Sangita has won medals at age-level international championships. The success of the Phogat sisters has attracted substantial media attention, particularly in light of prevalent social issues in Haryana such as

gender inequality Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which men and women are not treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in the society. Some of these distinctions are empi ...

female foeticide Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the infant. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over female children, especially in parts of Eas ...

, and

child marriage Child marriage is a marriage or similar union, formal or informal, between a child under a certain age – typically 18 years – and an adult or another child. * * * * The vast majority of child marriages are between a female child and a mal ...

Chandgi Ram Chandgi Ram (9 November 1937 – 29 June 2010), often referred to as Master Chandgi Ram, was a freestyle wrestler from India. He won gold medal in the 1970 Asian Games and represented India in the 1972 Summer Olympics. Along with amateur wrestl ...

's daughters, Sonika and Deepika, sowed the seeds of encouraging girls to take up women's wrestling in the 1990s; his protege Mahavir Phogat's daughters revolutionized wrestling, and then

Sakshi Malik Sakshi Malik (born 3 September 1992) is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the 58 kg category, becoming the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. She is a part of ...

won an Olympic medal, which led to a big change in the mentality towards women wrestling.Women’s wrestling in India: Why Navjot Kaur’s gold medal is a watershed moment
Livemint, 31 March 2018.

Background

Mahavir Singh Phogat is a former wrestler from Balali village in

, Haryana, who became a wrestling coach. His father Man Singh was also a wrestler. Mahavir and his wife Daya Kaur have five children: daughters Geeta,

, Ritu, and

Sangita Sangita (Devanagari: , IAST: ), also spelled Samgita or Sangeeta, refers to "music and associated performance arts" in the Indian traditions. According to Guy Beck, the root "saṃ-" implies "combining, coming together, convergent wholesome blend ...

, and the youngest being son Dushyant and the youngest being Mahavir's brother Rajpal's daughters

and Vinesh were brought up by Mahavir after the death of their father. Mahavir was inspired to train his daughters in wrestling when weightlifter

Karnam Malleswari Karnam Malleswari (born 1 June 1975) is a retired Indian weightlifter. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Olympics in 2000. In 1994, she received the Arjuna Award and in 1999, she received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, ...

became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in 2000. He was also influenced by his coach Chandgi Ram, who had taught wrestling to his own daughters. Kaur recollects, "I told my husband not to push the girls into the sport. I was worried about how they will ever get married as pehelwans wearing shorts and cutting their hair!" Regarding the opposition by the villagers against training his daughters, Mahavir said, "Everyone said I was bringing shame to our village by training my girls, but I thought, if a woman can be Prime Minister of a country, why can't she be a wrestler?" Deprived of proper facilities in his village where his daughters wrestled against boys, Mahavir enrolled Geeta and Babita into the Sports Authority of India center in

Sonipat Sonipat is a city, municipal corporation and administrative headquarter in Sonipat district of Haryana state of India. It comes under the National Capital Region and is around from New Delhi. It is also around 214 km (128 miles) southwest o ...

Details

In popular culture

The

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film '' Dangal'', released in India on 23 December 2016, is based on the lives of Phogat sisters Geeta and Babita. Wrestler

Pooja Dhanda Pooja Dhanda (born 1 January 1994) is an Indian wrestler from Budana village of Hisar district in Haryana,

was screened and originally selected to play the role of Babita Phogat in ''Dangal'', which she could not play due to an injury.Once a judoka, Pooja Dhanda wants to win laurels in wrestling

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...

, 25 Feb 2018.

References

{{Reflist Sibling groups Sport wrestlers from Haryana Sportswomen from Haryana People from Bhiwani district