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These three Indian women wrestlers have fought all odds to become world champions. Read to know about their journey from Haryana to Rio.
These three Indian women wrestlers have fought all odds to become wrestling champions. Read to know about their journey from Haryana to Rio.
When we speak about states with low sex ratio in India, the first state that comes to our minds is Haryana. We can’t deny the fact that it has the worst sex ratio as per the 2011 census. A state where ‘honor killing’ and ‘female foeticide’ is ‘news as usual’.
Despite the odds, there are a few ‘rising stars’ who have made a special place not only in the state, but globally as well. Vinesh Phogat, her cousin Babita Kumari and team mate Sakshi Malik, have all qualified for the Rio Olympics wrestling championship and the one common thread that binds all of them is that they hail from Haryana.
The sisters sisters Vinesh Phogat and Geeta Phogat broke all barriers to sustain as best wrestlers in India. It’s commendable, their having worked so hard, to achieve their dreams hailing from a state where love marriages and bearing a girl child is no less than a crime.
Their father and uncle who was also their trainer was a wrestler himself, trained them despite all odds. As young girls, they battled controversies. “People would throw us dirty looks when we wore shorts to practice. They would gossip and… say ‘this is wrong’,” said 21-year-old Vinesh, in an interview to the Times of India. Sakshi’s parents were told that their daughter would grow up with puffed out cauliflower ears which would prevent her from attaining suitable alliances.
Geeta Phogat (elder sister of Vinesh) was the first Indian wrestler who had qualified for London Olympics in 2012 and bagged many medals in commonwealth games and other competitions. Gradually there was a shift in attitude of the people who once looked down upon the ‘Phogat girls.’
If they had not received any support from their families, their condition would just be like thousands of other girls who have been forced to get married, ignoring there dreams and desires. In fact, they do talk about how different their lives are, when compared to their childhood friends.
“My life is very special compared to my friends. Some of them study a bit and then do household chores. The married ones are busy taking care of their husbands and babies,” said Sakshi.
Now, younger sister Vinesh Phogat is all set to repeat history with her teammates, to rock the women wrestling championship. A young village girl who had suffered a lot and had been the centre of criticism by the ‘Ghoonghat clad’ women and a male dominant society.
Vinesh is just 21 years old and has qualified for 48 kg group, while Babita Kumari and Sakshi Malik for the 53 kg and 58 kg respectively. They will fight for the coveted title in the Indian women wrestling world level championship.
One doesn’t always need to depend on society to rise. We have so much to learn from these young participants. Hope they will become inspirations to all youngsters and to those who left their dreams midway due to family and societal pressure.
Image Source: Youtube
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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