Babita Kumari

Personal life and family

Babita is the sister of India's first gold medalist in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games, Geeta Phogat. and the daughter of wrestler and Dronacharya Award recipient Mahavir Singh Phogat. She has a cousin Vinesh Phogat who also won gold, in the 48kg category, at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Babita, along with her sister and cousin, have contributed to a change in mindset and attitude towards girls and women in their village in Haryana.

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

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 2010 Commonwealth Games, Babita won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category after being defeated by Ifeoma Christi Nwoye of Nigeria in the gold medal match.

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 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 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 of Russia 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.

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 whom she beat 4:1. Her opponent in the semi-finals was Louisa Porogovska of England whom she beat 5-0. In the gold medal bout, she was up against Brittanee Laverdure of Canada whom she beat 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 in Incheon, South Korea. In the Round of 16 of the women's freestyle 55 kg category, she faced Srey Mao Dorn of Mongolia whom she beat 5:0. In the quarter-finals, she faced Aiym Abdildina of Kazakhstan whom she beat 3:1. She lost 0:4 to Olympic champion Saori Yoshida of Japan in the semi-finals. She was able to contest for the bronze medal but lost 1:3 to her opponent Xuechun Zhong of China.

2015 Asian Wrestling Championships

Babita defeated Abdy Kadyrova Elsa of Kyrgyzstan 10-0 in the quarterfinal of the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships, after getting the better of Zukhra Mustanova of Uzbekistan 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 North Korea, losing in the last five seconds.

With a chance for a podium finish, Babita lost to Zhuldyz Eshimova-Turtbayeva of Kazakhstan 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 in Rio de Janeiro. 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 .

Popular culture

The film Dangal loosely based on the story of her and her sister which released on 23 December 2016. Babita was portrayed by Sanya Malhotra and her younger self by Suhani Bhatnagar.

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