Pooja Dhanda (born 1 January 1994) is an Indian

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 sport ...

from Budana village of

Hisar district Hisar district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana, India. Hisar city serves as the district headquarters. Hisar district has four sub-divisions that is, Hisar, Barwala, Hansi and Narnaud, each headed by an SDM. The district is also part of H ...

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 ar ...

,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, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

, 25 Feb 2018. who won Bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships at Budapest in 57 kg weight class. She won Silver medals at

2010 Summer Youth Olympics The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics ( ta, 2010 கோடைக்கால இளையோர் ஒலிம்பிக் விளையாட்டுக்கள் ms, Sukan Olimpik Belia Musim Panas 2010), officially known as the I Summer ...

and

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

at Gold Coast in 60 kg and 57 kg category respectively. The grappler also won a Bronze at the 2014 Asian Wrestling Championship. Pooja has defeated

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

and

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

medalists. Government of India honoured her with the

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

for outstanding performance in the field of Sports.

Early life

Pooja was born in Budana village of

in Haryana. The daughter of a tractor driver with the Haryana Animal Husbandry Centre in Hisar, Dhanda started as a

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

player at

Mahabir Stadium Mahavir Stadium, built in 1972, is a multipurpose sports complex located in Hisar city of Haryana, India. It has second largest capacity in Haryana, after the Shah Satnam Ji Cricket Stadium in Sirsa which has a higher capacity of 35,000 specta ...

but switched to wrestling in 2009. Pooja Dhanda is the daughter of Kamlesh Dhanda and father, Ajmer who was an athlete himself. She began her sporting journey with

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

in 2007. She was still below the minimum age required to participate in wrestling federation competitions, and hence started playing Judo. Pooja first secured a Bronze medal a
Asian Cadet Judo Championship
at Hyderabad in 2007 and then won a Gold at the same event in its 2008 edition. Despite the achievements, former India wrestler and coach Kripa Shankar Bishnoi advised her to make wrestling her career. Pooja began to train for wrestling under coach Subhash Chander Soni at Hisar in 2009. In 2010 Pooja won Silver in wrestling at the

Summer Youth Olympics The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

in Singapore. Pooja won against famous grappler

Babita Phogat 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 and a bronze medal at the 2012 World Wre ...

in the final of the National Championship in 2013 and then won a Bronze medal at the Asian Championship in 2014. But a ligament injury in 2015 almost ended her career. The challenge was not only psychological but also of lack of financial resources. She had to undergo surgeries in Mumbai and follow a long process of rehabilitation. Government paid for her treatment, but rehabilitation costs, physiotherapist’s fee and rent were significant. Employed with Haryana Sports Department as a wrestling coach, Pooja was on leave without pay.

Career

After switching to wrestling in 2009, as a young sportswoman, Pooja's career took off on a promising note when she won the silver medal at the

in the 60 kg category. After she debuted in the national championship in 2013,she participated in the World Wrestling Championship for the first time but was out of the event after a loss in the first round. she defeated

in the final, followed by a Bronze medal in

Asian Wrestling Championship Asian Wrestling Championships is the Wrestling Asian Championship organized by the Asian Associated Wrestling Committee (AAWC). The men's tournament began in 1979 and The women's tournament was first staged in 1996, and it has been held every year. ...

at Astana in 2014. and has since won all four senior national championships by 2017. In the

Pro Wrestling League The Pro Wrestling League (PWL) is an Indian sport wrestling promotion that was first established in 2015. It was initiated by ProSportify and Wrestling Federation of India. Structure The Pro Wrestling League includes six franchises, which r ...

season 3, she has defeated World and Olympic champion

Helen Maroulis Helen Louise Maroulis ( el, Ελένη Μαρούλη; born September 19, 1991) is an American freestyle wrestler who competes in the women's 55-kg 53-kg and 57-kg categories. She was a gold medalist at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in ...

of the USA twice, World Championship silver medallist and Olympic bronze medallist Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria and World Championship silver medallist

Marwa Amri Marwa Al-Amri ( ar, مروى العامري, born 8 January 1989) is a Tunisian freestyle wrestler. She was born in Tunis. She represented Tunisia in the women's lightweight freestyle competition at the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. ...

. Pooja was screened and originally selected to play the role of

in blockbuster '' Dangal'' (2016), which she could not play due to an injury. However, Pooja later competed against and defeated senior Phogat sister

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. Per ...

in the real-life

selection trials. She won silver medal in the

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 ...

in the women's 57 kg freestyle wrestling after losing to Nigeria's Odunayo Adekuoroye 7-5 in the final at the Carrara Sports Arena 1.CWG 2018: Pooja Dhanda wins silver, Divya Kakran bags bronze as India's medal rush in wrestling continue
Times Now News, 13 April 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhanda, Pooja Living people 1994 births People from Hisar (city) Sportswomen from Haryana Female sport wrestlers from Haryana 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Wrestlers at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in wrestling Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Wrestlers at the 2018 Asian Games Wrestlers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Asian Games competitors for India Recipients of the Arjuna Award World Wrestling Championships medalists Asian Wrestling Championships medalists