Dangal girl Geeta Phogat wins state championships, will compete at Senior Nationals next month
Dangal queen Geeta Phogat finally made a comeback to the mat and made an immediate impact. The wrestler, now a mother of a two-year-old son, clinched the gold medal in the 59kg weight category at the Haryana Senior State Wrestling Championship held at Ladrawan Village on Monday.
Manju of Hisar and Kusum won silver and bronze respectively in the same weight bracket.
The state championships featured 500 wrestlers from across the state in 30 brackets (10 each in freestyle, Greco-Roman and Women’s).
Geeta Phogat, along with other position holders will now participate in the national wrestling championships scheduled to be held in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh in November.
Shefali of Rohtak, Priyanka of Charkhi Dadri and Sumit Kumari of Mahendragarh won first, second and third position, respectively, in the freestyle 65-kg weight category.
Ritika of Rohtak secured gold, Honey of Sonepat bagged silver and Nisha of Bhiwani won bronze in the 72-kg weight category (freestyle).
Geeta Phogat likely to challenge world medalist Sarita Mor
Geeta Phogat will eye a place in the national camp. The 32-year-old will challenge Sarita Mor, who won bronze at the World Championships held in Oslo, Norway earlier this month.
The 32-year-old initially planned to make a comeback in the 62kg bracket. But with her sister Sangeeta Phogat also returning to the same weight class for the world championships, Geeta Phogat will likely move to 59kg.
The eldest of the famous Phogat sisters last competed in 2019 after which she took a break from wrestling following her pregnancy. She is married to wrestler Pawan Saroha. They tied knot in 2016.
Geeta Phogat, on whose life the popular movie 'Dangal' is loosely based, had etched her name in the country's sporting history as she became the first Indian female wrestler to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2010.