Pooja Dhanda

Pooja Dhanda (born 1 January 1994) is an Indian wrestler from Gudana village of Hisar district in Haryana,[3] who won the silver medal in the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics,[4] and 2018 Commonwealth Games. In August, 2019, she was honoured with the Arjun Award.[5]

Pooja Dhanda
Personal information
NationalityIndian
Born (1994-01-01) 1 January 1994[1]
Budana village, Hisar district, Haryana, India[2]
Height162 cm (5 ft 4 in)[1]
Weight57 kg (126 lb)
Sport
CountryIndia
SportWrestling
Event(s)Freestyle wrestling
College teamgovernment college of Hissar
Coached byKuldeep Singh
Medal record
Representing  India
World Championships
2018 Budapest57 kg
Women's Freestyle wrestling
Youth Olympic Games
2010 SingaporeGirls' freestyle 60 kg
2014 Asian Wrestling Championships
2014 Astana 58 kg
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Championships
2017 Ashgabat 58 kg
Commonwealth Games
2018 Gold Coast57 kg
Updated on 25 August 2018.

Early life

Pooja was born in Budana village of Hisar district in Haryana.[3] The daughter of a tractor driver with the Haryana Animal Husbandry Centre in Hisar, Dhanda started as a judo player at Mahabir Stadium but switched to wrestling in 2009.[3]

Career

As a young sportswoman, Pooja's career took off on a promising note when she won the silver medal at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in the 60 kg category.[6] After she debuted 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.[3]

Pooja was screened and originally selected to play the role of Babita Phogat in blockbuster Dangal (2016), which she could not play due to an injury. However, Pooja later competed against and defeated senior Phogat sister Geeta Phogat in the real-life 2018 Commonwealth Games selection trials.[7]

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.[8]

References
  1. "Pooja, Dhanda (IND)". United World Wrestling. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  2. Sharma, Chetan (13 February 2018). "Pooja Dhanda: Star in the making". India Today. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  3. Once a judoka, Pooja Dhanda wants to win laurels in wrestling, Times of India, 25 Feb 2018.
  4. "Wrestling – Women's Freestyle 60 kg – Competition Sheet (With Results)" (PDF). Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee. 16 August 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  5. "Proud feeling of receiving Arjun Award: Pooja Dhanda". Asian News International. 28 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  6. "Commonwealth Games 2018: Pooja Dhanda aims for gold in debut after recovering from career-threatening injury - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  7. "Pooja defeats real-life 'Dangal' girl Geeta - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  8. CWG 2018: Pooja Dhanda wins silver, Divya Kakran bags bronze as India's medal rush in wrestling continue, Times Now News, 13 April 2018.
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