Babita Kumari

Babita Kumari

Personal information
Nationality	Indian
Born	(1989-11-20) 20 November 1989 Bhiwani district,[1] Haryana, India
Height	160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Sport
Country	India
Sport	Freestyle wrestling
Event(s)	55 kg
Medal record Women's Freestyle Wrestling Representing  India World Wrestling Championships 2012 Strathcona County 51kg Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi 51 kg 2014 Glasgow 55 kg Asian Wrestling Championships 2013 Delhi 55 kg Commonwealth Wrestling Championship 2009 Jalandhar[2] 51 kg 2011 Melbourne[3] 48 kg
Updated on 18 September 2015.

Babita Kumari (born November 20, 1989) is an Indian female wrestler, who won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She also won a bronze medal at the 2012 World Wrestling Championships,^[4] and won the gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Personal life and family

She is the sister of India's first gold medallist in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games, Geeta Phogat. Babita is the daughter of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat. Babita has a cousin Vinesh Phogat who won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.^[5][6]

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.^[7][8]

Career

2009 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship

In the tournament in Jalandhar, Punjab, Babita won the gold medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category.^[9]

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.^[10]

2011 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship

In the tournament held in Melbourne, Australia, Babita won the gold medal in the women's freestyle 48 kg category.^[9]

2012 World Wrestling Championships

In the Round of 16, 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. Unfortunately 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.^[11]

2013 Asian Wrestling Championship

In the 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, 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.^[12]

2014 Asian Games

Babita wasn't able to repeat her Commonwealth Games feat at the 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 and crashed out of the tournament.^[13]

2015 Asian Wrestling Championships

Babita had comfortably defeated Abdy Kadyrova Elsa of Kyrgyzstan 10-0 in the quarterfinal, after getting the better of Zukhra Mustanova of Uzbekistan by the same margin in the qualification round.

But 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 in a well-fought battle.^[14][15]

2016 Rio Olympics

Babita became the third and final entry from India in the women's wrestling for Rio Olympics. She hails from the Phogat family and represented India along with her cousin Vinesh Phogat. She qualified for the Rio Games after her opponent failed a dope test in the qualifying tournament and the quota was given to India.^[16]

But she couldn't go beyond the first round and lost 1-5 to her Greek opponent Maria Prevolaraki.^[17]

Popular culture

Babita will be portrayed in the film Dangal starring Aamir Khan to be released in 2016.^[18][19] Her character is portrayed by Sanya Malhotra.^[20]

Other titles

• Dave Schultz Memorial Tournament, 2010 - Sixth place^[21]
• Dave Schultz Memorial Tournament, 2012 - Bronze^[22]
• Dave Schultz Memorial Tournament, 2014 - Silver^[23]

See also

• Babita Kumari - FILA database

References