ROHTAK: History is being re-written and there is a queer similarity with what happened 15 years ago.
A girl is again making boys taste defeat in
Dangals
across
Haryana and Punjab. The surname is Phogat; but 12-year-old
Bhumi Phogat
, who has thrashed more than 100 boys so far, doesn't hail from the famous
Mahavir Phogat stable.
Bhumi is following the same route that Mahavir's daughters Geeta and Babita — whose road to success was showcased in the superhit Bollywood movie Dangal — had gone through during their childhood.
Coming from Rithal village (in Rohtak district), Bhumi has beaten male counterparts who have been much superior to her in both age as well as weight.
The person behind her success in the mud pit, so far, is her father Ashok Phogat — a former national-level long jumper.
"I have lost count of the number of male wrestlers I have defeated," quips Bhumi.
"The figure is more than 100," father Ashok Phogat reveals in an emphatic manner.
"On holidays and after school hours, I make sure Bhumi participates in different Dangals that take place in villages. She has won 90% of her bouts in Haryana and Punjab by beating male rivals, who have been superior to her in age and weight," he adds.
Bhumi's morning starts sharp at 5 and what follows is a strict and rigorous training schedule that lasts for three hours. There is no relaxing on that regime.
At present, she stays in a two-room accommodation in Rajender Nagar (Rohtak) with her parents. Her morning training regimen includes 1,100 sit-ups, 225 push-ups and several other strength-building exercises. A heavy breakfast, including 3 litres of milk, ensues.
Ashok, who shunned his job of a security officer in Delhi so that he can oversee his daughter's training, wants Bhumi to make it big in the international arena.
"I want her to win an Olympic medal for the country," says Ashok.
Bhumi is Ashok's only daughter and he travels to remote areas of Haryana in an old Maruti car so that his daughter gets tougher competition.
"In the past 4 years, she has earned her name with performances on the mat as well as the mud pit," Ashok reflects, while showing a collage of Bhumi with popular wrestlers like
Yogeshwar Dutt and Bajrang Poonia.
"She is very agile and athletic. That's her strongest point," Ashok states.
Just like Geeta and Babita's childhood, Bhumi sports a short hairdo, while Ashok is the tough taskmaster that Mahavir Phogat was.
"When I watched Dangal, some of the scenes made me feel as if my life story was being enacted; especially the scene where crowd cheers Geeta after she had defeated a male wrestler," relates Bhumi.
"Some four years ago, I had defeated a boy in a Dangal that was held at Ghirawad village by pinning him in record three minutes. I won a cash prize of Rs 11000 for that," she reminisces.
Bhumi now trains at the famous
Chottu Ram Stadium
in Rohtak, which has produced the likes of Olympic bronze-medallist
Sakshi Malik.
Her coach, Mandeep Saini, feels that Bhumi too has the potential to win an Olympic medal for the nation.
"She is a very promising wrestler. Moreover, she is highly dedicated. Bhumi is the first one to enter the stadium for training and the last to go. All the qualities to be an Olympic medallist," says Mandeep.
Bhumi, however, has set her sights on becoming a ‘Bharat Kesri' — the highest title a wrestler can achieve in mud wrestling.
"I want to lord over the Dangals first," says Bhumi.
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