Pawan Kumar has announced that his wife and Indian wrestler Geeta Phogat will make her return to the mat for the Tokyo Olympics. He said that his wife has resumed training and is getting ready to bid chances for the Olympics. “Yes, she has started light training. She does yoga too. Geeta will try for the Tokyo Games,” Pawan told WrestlingTV.
Originally to be held this year, the Tokyo Games were postponed to 2021 due to the Coronavirus. The deferment has given her a second lease in her career. Geeta had taken a hiatus from wrestling after getting pregnant in 2019. She gave birth to a baby boy Arjun and has begun training for her return to the mat. Her younger sister Sangeeta earlier had also echoed Pawan’s thoughts on Geeta’s comeback.
Although her husband and sister have confirmed the news of her comeback, Geeta is yet to make an official announcement. Pawan, however, says that she has not decided by when will she make the return or in which weight class she will compete.
“Currently she weighs 86kg. She will have to lose a lot of weight. But she has not yet decided which weight class she will compete in. It will depend on the situation,” he said.
Geeta, 31, is the first-ever woman wrestler to win a gold for India at the Commonwealth Games (2010). Two years later she became the first Indian women to qualify for the Olympics. Her achievements in wrestling broke the age-old stigma of Indian society regarding women, especially in Haryana. Girls now took up wrestling and even competed at international events.
The two-time Asian Championship medallist had earlier expressed her desire for the return too. “I want to make a comeback. I am doing my yoga and whatever fitness training is possible at this stage. I will see to it that after my child is born, I do enough to get back to wrestling.”
For now, just like everyone else, she is in quarantine in her home. Her husband has made an akhara in the backyard where the couple train.
