Pooja Dhanda
Pooja Dhanda (born 1 January 1994) is an Indian wrestler from Gudana village of Hisar district in Haryana,[1] who won the silver medal in the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
She was screened and originally selected to play the role of Babita Phogat in blockbuster Dangal (film) which she could not play due to an injury, and later she went on to defeat senior Phogat sister Geeta Phogat in the real life national championship.[2]
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Her family life
She was born in a Hindu Jat family of Gudana village of Hisar district in Haryana.[3]
Sports career
She started as judo player at Mahabir Stadium but switched to wrestling in 2009. After she debuted in in the national championship in 2013, she defeated Babita Phogat in the final and has since won all four senior national championships by 2017. In the Pro Wrestling League, she has defeated World and Olympic champion Helen Maroulis of the USA twice, World Championship silver medallist and Olympic bronze medallist Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria and World Championship silver medallist Marwa Amri.[4]
She won the silver medal in the girls' freestyle 60 kg event at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore, losing to Baatarzorigyn Battsetseg of Mongolia in the final.
She won silver medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in the women's 57 kg freestyle wrestling after losing to Nigeria's Odunayo Adekuoroye 7-5 in the final at the Carrara Sports Arena 1.[5]
CWG 2018: Bajrang Punia storms to wrestling gold, silver for Pooja Dhanda
Ref - Times of India, 13.4.2018
India's gold rush at the 2018 Commonwealth Games has continued with Bajrang Punia delivering a 17th yellow metal in the men's freestyle 65kg while Pooja Dhanda has won silver in the women's 57kg freestyle on day nine of competition at Gold Coast, Australia.
Teenaged wrestler Divya Kakran, who claimed medals at the Asian and Commonwealth Wrestling Championships last year, has marked her first appearance at the Commonwealth Games by winning bronze in the women’s 68kg freestyle event. India's last wrestling medal contest of the day ended up in a silver medal finish after Mausam Khatri lost 2-12 to Martin Erasmus of South Africa in a one-sided contest.
Bajrang Punia, who won a 61kg silver four years ago at the Glasgow Games, turned in an utterly dominating performance against Kane Charig of Wales, whom he defeated 10-0 in just over two minutes.
Bajrang Punia had stormed into the final of the men's freestyle 65kg event with wins over New Zealand's Brahm Richards, Nigeria's Amas Daniel and Canada's Vincent de Marinis. In the showdown with Charig, the 24-year-old wrapped up gold inside the first round.
Bajrang won the highest accolade for Indian wrestling last year, a 65kg freestyle gold medal at the Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi, for which he was crowned Wrestler of the Year at the third Mahindra Scorpio Times of India Awards (TOISA) in February. On his way to the summit, Bajrang had beaten the previous Asian Championship gold-medalist Meisam Nassiri 7-5 in the quarter-finals.
His second gold of the year came at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, where he beat Daichi Takatani of Japan, and there was also a silver medal at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championship - his first at world level in an Olympic weight category.
In the other gold medal fight, Pooja Dhanda won silver in the women's 57kg freestyle after losing her final match against Olympic bronze medalist and two-time World Championship medalist Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria.
Pooja Dhanda was at her fighting best during her bout as she had almost turned it around in the last 30 seconds. Trailing 1-6, Dhanda almost got the job done with a near pinfall but Odunayo was lucky to survive.
The 24-year-old from Gudana in Haryana's Hisar district had earlier turned down an offer to play three-time CWG medalist Babita Kumari in Hindi cinema's all-time grosser Dangal to stay focused on her wrestling career.
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References
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