Agar bapu haanikaarak nahin hote, toh hum yahan tak nahin pahunchte: Geeta Phogat

On October 11, the International Day of the Girl Child, students of a Vadodara based university were privileged to listen to wrestling champ Geeta Phogat who was in town to deliver a talk. Geeta, the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold at the Commonwealth Games (2010) and also the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympics (2012), was in a jovial mood and not surprisingly, she referred to the film

Dangal (it was based on the Phogat family) more than once to make her point. Geeta, who had announced her pregnancy on social media last month, shared, “I have always enjoyed coming to Gujarat. Gujaratis are wonderful people and just like us (people from Haryana), they are big foodies. Although I am pregnant, I wanted to come here because I have always enjoyed interacting with youngsters. When I was in school, we would really look forward to celebrity visits, as listening to them is always inspiring. Now, it’s my turn to try and inspire the youth.” Excerpts from a chat:

‘HUMNE KABHI APNA JEEVAN KHUD KI MARZI SE NAHIN JIYA’

Today, I hear all these things about how parents should let their kids take the final decision about their own careers. But in our case, humne kabhi apna jeevan khud ki marzi se nahin jiya. When Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in 2000 (in weightlifting), my father thought that he could train his daughters in such a way that they could win Olympic medals one day. Being a wrestler, he started training us in wrestling, which was unthinkable in those days in a conservative state like Haryana. When we would lose, there were days when he would beat us too. But we have absolutely no complaints against him. Agar bapu haanikaarak nahin hote, toh hum yahan nahin pahunchte

! Whenever we would feel like giving up, our mom would say, “ Beta, bas aur 2-3 saal mehnat kar lo”. And this went on for 10 years, before we started doing India proud.

‘BEING MARRIED TO A WRESTLER IS A BLESSING, PAWAN IS VERY SUPPORTIVE’

Both me and my husband (Pawan Kumar) are excited about welcoming our first child. Since he is a wrestler too, he has been extremely supportive and understanding about my career. When we are at home, we try and make sure that we don’t spend too much time on our smartphones. And we actually hide each other’s phones for a few hours, so that we get to spend more quality time together!

‘PARENTS MUST SUPPORT AND BELIEVE IN THEIR DAUGHTERS’ DREAMS’

When Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu won Olympic medals in 2016, it inspired a lot of girls in India to take up different sports. More importantly, it made the parents of those girls believe in those dreams too. When I started wrestling, my father had to hear nasty things from people. But today, there are so many akhadas that exclusively train women wrestlers! Things have changed now. Also, today wrestlers have better facilities, trainers and physios, and sponsors are also showing keen interest in the sport. It’s due to these factors that Vinesh was able to make a strong comeback after a career-threatening injury. If someone like me, who hails from a small village in Haryana, managed to win medals for India, there is no reason why other daughters of India can’t do the same. Parents ka

support ho, toh betiyan azaad ho ke udti hain aur kuch bhi kar sakti hain. Also, it’s heartening to see that people’s mentality is now changing, and they are more supportive towards women sportspersons.

‘WE’LL WIN MORE MEDALS AT THE TOKYO OLYMPIC’

I strongly believe that India will win more medals at the Tokyo Olympics (2020) as compared to last time (India won two medals in 2016). In fact, I believe we will win more than one medal in wrestling. Looking at the way Vinesh Phogat (her cousin sister) and our male wrestlers performed at the recent World Championships (top wrestlers from across the world participated) we have reasons to be optimistic.

‘WRESTLERS DROP OUT OFTEN, IT’S NOT EASY TO BALANCE SPORTS & STUDIES’

A lot of wrestlers drop out of school at some stage as it’s not easy to balance sports and education. But ideally, one should try and complete one’s education. When we were in school, we had to wake up at 3 am and head to the akhada, so that we could train before going to school. After that, we had to walk four kilometres to reach school, and train again in the afternoon, after coming home. We used to sleep for only five or six hours in a day. So, it was tough but I am glad that we did it. Hard work always pays in the long run.