Babita Kumari Phogat (born 20 November 1989) is an Indian wrestler, who won the gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games. She also won silver medals at 2018 Commonwealth Games and

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

and a bronze medal at the 2012 World Wrestling Championships. Babita Phogat entered politics by joining the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

in 2019.

Personal life and family

Babita is the younger sister of

Geeta Phogat Geeta Phogat (born 15 December 1988) is a freestyle wrestler who won India's first ever gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. She is also the first Indian female wrestler to have qualified for the Olympic Summer Games. Pe ...

, who won India's first gold medal in women's wrestling 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 ...

. Babita is the daughter of wrestler and

Dronacharya Award The Dronacharya Award, officially known as Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, is sports coaching honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Drona, often referred as "Dronacharya" or "Guru Drona", a ...

recipient

Mahavir Singh Phogat Mahavir Singh Phogat is an Indian amateur wrestler, senior Olympics coach and politician. He is the trainer and father of the Phogat sisters. The Hindi biographical film '' Dangal'' is loosely based on his life. Phogat was awarded the Dronac ...

. She has a cousin Vinesh Phogat who also won gold, in the 48 kg category, at the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

.The Powerhouse Phogat Siblings and their Cousin - Deeta, Babita and Vinesh
Femina. Babita, along with her sister and cousin, have contributed to a change in mindset and attitude towards girls and women in home-state Haryana and rest of the nation. Her youngest sister,

Ritu Phogat Ritu Kumari Phogat (born 2 May 1994) is an Indian mixed martial artist currently signed to ONE Championship. She is also a female wrestler who won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship. Early and personal life Ritu is ...

, too is an international level wrestler and has won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship. Her younger sister,

Sangita Phogat The Phogat sisters are six sisters from Haryana, India, all of whom are wrestlers. In order of their birth, they are Geeta, Babita, Priyanka, Ritu, Vinesh, and Sangeeta. While Geeta, Babita, Ritu, and Sangeeta are daughters of former wrest ...

is also a wrestler. In June 2019, she announced her engagement to fellow wrestler Vivek Suhag, whom she later married in November of the same of year. Babita Phogat joined the BJP on Monday 12 August 2019 but lost her first election. She and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby boy, on January 11, 2021.

Career

2009 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship

In the tournament in Jalandhar, Punjab, Babita won the gold medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category.

2010 Commonwealth Games

At the

, Babita won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category after being defeated by Ifeoma Christi Nwoye of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in the gold medal match with the score of 0–2, 4–5.

2011 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship

In the tournament held in Melbourne, Australia, Babita won the gold medal in the women's freestyle 48 kg category.

2012 World Wrestling Championships

In the Round of 16 of the 2012 World Wrestling Championships, Babita faced Hsin-Ju Chiu of

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

whom she beat 5:0. Her quarter-finals opponent was Risako Kawai of Japan whom she beat 5:0 to qualify for the semi-finals. She lost 1:3 to Jessica Anne Marie MacDonald of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in the semi-finals. She was then able to contest for the bronze medal which she won in the women's freestyle 51 kg category by beating

Zamira Rakhmanova Zamira Alimradovna Rakhmanova (russian: Замира Алимрадовна Рахманова; born December 28, 1985, Kaspiysk, Dagestan ASSR, USSR) is a female wrestler from Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

5:0.

2013 Asian Wrestling Championships

At the 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships tournament in New Delhi, India, Babita won the bronze medal in the women's freestyle 55 kg category along with Han Kum-ok of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

2014 Commonwealth Games

In the women's freestyle 55 kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Babita's first opponent in the quarter-finals was Kathryn Marsh of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

whom she beat 9–2, 4–0 (classification points 4:1). Her opponent in the semi-finals was Louisa Porogovska of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

whom she beat 2–0 (classification points 5:0) – victory by

fall Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...

(wrestling terminology). In the gold medal bout, she was up against Brittanee Laverdure of

whom she beat 5–0, 4–2 (classification points 3:1) to win the gold medal.

2014 Asian Games

Babita was not able to repeat her Commonwealth Games feat at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

, South Korea. In the Round of 16 of the women's freestyle 55 kg category, she faced Srey Mao Dorn of

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

whom she beat 5:0. In the quarter-finals, she faced Aiym Abdildina of

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

whom she beat 3:1. She lost 0:4 to Olympic champion

Saori Yoshida is a Japanese former freestyle wrestler. Starting in 1998 she won almost every major competition, including three Olympic Games, four Asian Games, and 13 world championships, and became the most decorated athlete in freestyle wrestling history. ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the semi-finals. She was able to contest for the bronze medal but lost 1:3 to her opponent Xuechun Zhong of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

2015 Asian Wrestling Championships

Babita defeated Abdy Kadyrova Elsa of

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

10–0 in the quarterfinal of the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships, after getting the better of Zukhra Mustanova of

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

by the same margin in the qualification round. Babita failed to enter the final as she lost her semifinal bout to Pak Yong-Mi of

, losing in the last five seconds. With a chance for a podium finish, Babita lost to Zhuldyz Eshimova-Turtbayeva of

3–6 in the bronze medal play-off.

2016 Rio Olympics

Babita became the third and final entry from India in the women's wrestling for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. She represented India along with her cousin Vinesh Phogat. She qualified for the Rio Games after her opponent failed a doping test in the qualifying tournament and the quota was given to India. Babita lost in the first round 1–5.

2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

Babita Kumari Phogat won the silver medal in women's 53 kg freestyle wrestling at 2018 Commonwealth Games in

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Popular culture

The film '' Dangal'' is loosely based on the story of her and her sister which released on 23 December 2016. Babita was portrayed by

Sanya Malhotra Sanya Malhotra (born 25 February 1992) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She began her career with supporting roles in the biographical sports film '' Dangal'' (2016) and the comedy ''Badhaai Ho'' (2018), both of which rank among t ...

and her younger self by Suhani Bhatnagar.

Politics

She joined the

in August 2019 professing to be strongly influenced by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

. She lost to Sombir Sangwan in October 2019 in Haryana assembly elections from Dadri (Haryana Vidhan Sabha constituency).

Filmography

Television

Other titles

* Dave Schultz Memorial Tournament, 2010 – Sixth place * Dave Schultz Memorial Tournament, 2012 – Bronze * Dave Schultz Memorial Tournament, 2014 – Silver

References

External links

Babita Kumari – FILA database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumari, Babita Indian female sport wrestlers Sportswomen from Haryana Living people Wrestlers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Wrestlers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Wrestlers at the 2014 Asian Games 1989 births World Wrestling Championships medalists Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic wrestlers of India Commonwealth Games medallists in wrestling 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Female sport wrestlers from Haryana Phogat sisters Asian Games competitors for India Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Haryana Recipients of the Arjuna Award Asian Wrestling Championships medalists