Grappling with gender bias, Geeta heads to London

Tough training

It is a far cry from her initial days, when she trained in an enclosure adjoining a cattle shed in her village home.

"There was no roof where we trained, so it used to get very hot during the day and the mud used to feel very cold during the evening," says Geeta, as she toys with the keys of her grey sedan, a recent gift by the Haryana state government.

Indian wrestler Geeta Phogat practises using a training dummy inside the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports in Patiala in the northern Indian state of Punjab May 5, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

Her father and coach could not afford to buy a wrestling mat used in international competitions.

"I received no facilities or help from the government," says Mahavir Singh, a 52-year-old former wrestler, as he smokes a hookah in his courtyard.

While kushti is popular in Haryana, a state known for producing quality wrestlers, it is considered a man's sport with no training infrastructure for women. The Phogat sisters had mud bouts with boys to hone their skills.

"We were known as the sisters who beat all the boys," says Geeta. While she was excused from doing household chores, she found her father's training schedule overwhelming at first.

"She used to cry a lot earlier," says Daya Kaur, Geeta's mother, who keeps her face covered like most women in rural Haryana. "Her dad used to keep a stick. If she was late even by one minute in the morning, she used to get beaten up."

Geeta says she is both excited and nervous about the Olympics in London, a city she has never seen before. But even if she does not win gold, her success has inspired girls in and around her village.

"Those who used to ask my father to be ashamed of himself for training us in wrestling now say they wish they have daughters like me," says Geeta, who will be competing in the 55-kg category at the London Games this year.

Indian wrestler Geeta Phogat (2nd R) smiles along with her coaches Roin Dobo (L), Ramni Chanu (2nd L) and Monika Choudhary after attending a practice session in Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports in Patiala in the northern Indian state of Punjab May 5, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

Since the success of the Phogat sisters in international tournaments, their father has started training other girls from the village in the family wrestling hall - which finally has a mat.

"Those girls who used to think they can only do field work, they want to make a name for themselves," says Babita, Geeta's younger sister, who bagged a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. "Now they convince their parents to send them here for training."

"My grandmother had desired a male child," says Geeta, who plans to marry after the Olympics. "Now she says if she has a hundred daughters like me, she won't have any regrets."