Arjuna Awardee
Pooja Dhanda
Early life
Pooja Dhanda, the daughter of a Haryana tractor driver from Haryana, has developed into one of the most promising Indian women wrestlers of her generation because of her competitive spirit.
Born in the Budana village of the Hisar region, she began running great distances in the countryside with her father, a marathon running enthusiast.
That sparked her interest in sports, and it wasn’t long before she picked on wrestling as her first love.
However, she began judo in parallel; from a young age in order to compete at national and international championships. As a natural athlete, she excelled as a judoka and won several national and international competitions.
The Turning Point
Even though she had been selected for the Asian Judo Championships, a chance meeting with wrestler Kripa Shankar Bishnoi persuaded her to switch careers and pursue wrestling full-time in 2009.
Pooja’s physical structure and capabilities were more suited to wrestling than judo, according to Bishnoi, and the former Commonwealth Games bronze medalist was spot-on with his assessment.
She quickly realized her potential in wrestling, thanks to her prior training and background in judo, another combat sport that emphasizes upper-body power. A year later, at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore, she won a silver medal in the 60kg division.
She approached the senior circuit with purpose after polishing her skills in the junior circuit for a few years, becoming the national champion, winning gold at the Commonwealth Championships in 2013, and winning bronze at the 2014 Asian Championships.
The Lows
She was shortlisted to play the role of Babita Phogat in the movie “Dangal”, but a severe tear to her Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) forced her to pull out.
The career-threatening injury also set in a difficult period in the young wrestler’s career, keeping her on the sidelines for the better part of the following two years and ultimately preventing her from competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
She decided to go under the knife, but her first surgery was unsuccessful. Even after rehabilitation, she couldn’t straighten her leg, and her decision to return to the mat despite the pain only deteriorated her issue, which was only addressed after another operation late in 2016.
Her return to the mat was hampered by a fast exit from the 2017 World Championships, but she was determined to write her own comeback story. “It was alright being an actor (in the Dangal casting trials). But I prefer writing my own story,” she said.
Back In the Game
She marked her return in 2017, after winning the national championship for the second time, but it was in the Pro Wrestling League a year later that she truly made her mark.
She went on to win silver in the 57kg category at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
Her next competition was the 2018 World Wrestling Championships, where she competed in the 57kg category alongside Rong Ningning of China, Bilyana Dudova of Bulgaria, Emese Barka of Hungary, and others.
After Alka Tomar (2006), Geeta Phogat (2012), and Babita Phogat (2013), the Haryana wrestler rose to the occasion and won bronze to become only the fourth Indian woman wrestler to win a World Championship medal (2012).
Current Status
Pooja Dhanda received the Arjuna Award in 2019 for her achievements on the wrestling mat. Her ‘ultimate goal is to win a medal for India at the Tokyo Olympics when she hopes to make her Olympic debut.