Come summer, monsoon or winter, some things never change. The selfie requests haven’t slowed down one bit. Thanks to Aamir Khan and co., as soon as Geeta Phogat steps off the stage after her interaction with the media, almost immediately, a fan wants a picture.
More of a demand than a request. She stops, smiles and continues walking. Three strides later, another one and another one. The PR representatives have decided that it’s enough. As the hoopla draws to a close, Sportskeeda sat down with the talented wrestler for a quick chat.
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With no competitive matches this month, you’d reckon Phogat could afford to cut herself some slack. “There’s no time to do timepass, It’s an extremely busy schedule. I have to travel a lot, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune. So, I actually have no time to pass.”
“After Dangal released, a lot of events have been happening. I hope to quickly complete these things and get back to practising twice a day, regularly. I want to get back on the mat as soon as possible. It’s getting a bit too much, I want to finish this very soon,” she said.
An important year ahead
2017 is an important year for Phogat; the Asian Championships take place in May in Delhi, and later in the year, she will be travelling to France for the World Championships.
The 28-year old secured a bronze medal at the Asian Championships in 2015. Since then, she’s had an arduous time cementing herself as one of India’s greats. Injuries haven’t helped her endeavours, but she’s intent on making a statement this year.
Dangal has ensured that Geeta is a household name now. “I loved the final part of the movie. The girls did an amazing job and their technique as great,” she says about the critically-acclaimed film. Despite all the success, naysayers ensure they’re always in the picture.
“There are all kinds of characters in society. Even if you do well, they’ll always try and find something that’s missing. If you aren’t performing, then it’s a given that they’re going to criticise. I am not bothered by it. But I feel bad sometimes that people never improve.”
There’s no doubt that Geeta is raking in the moolah amidst all of this but her spending habits haven’t changed drastically: “Till now, I haven’t really bought anything very expensive for myself. But I love shopping a lot. I keep shopping, whether it’s for dresses or sunglasses.”
Geeta on her wedding
2017 started on a romantic note for Phogat. She got married to fellow wrestler Pawan Kumar in the little town of Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, in a huge ceremony which included from Aamir Khan, several politicians, and over 5000 people descended upon the venue to witness the moment.
“I couldn’t make out if I was getting married or something else is happening. My head was all over the place. Aamir Khan went to the village during the day and there was so much commotion. We found it difficult to leave.”
“I couldn’t sense that a wedding was taking place. I pleaded with the uncle to just get this done with quickly. Yes, it also felt good that so many people arrived,” said Phogat.
Her daily training schedule
Phogat reveals her tiring training schedule and says that 400-500 push-ups a day is an everyday phenomenon: “I actually do the least. My sisters do around 1000 push-ups. We do sets of 50, 45, 40 but complete it all in one session. It takes around 20-25 minutes”
Asked if there was any particular day which demanded a lot during training, “One day? God! I’ve spent so many days and years. Our father demanded a lot from us when we were kids. The training during our childhood days was more difficult than today.”
Her regiment mostly involves free-weight training and she can lift 70 kgs quite easily.
“The amount of physical work that we did when we were young, it helps us even today. During those days we didn’t even have gyms,” said the wrestler about her younger days. As a result of her intense training, Geeta found it extremely hard initially to gain weight despite her heavy North-Indian diet. “I remember my father telling me to train so hard that you’re able to digest even chickpea’s made of iron.”
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Today, a substantial amount of her expenses goes into her diet: “It is bound to be expensive. If we take good quality proteins, multi vitamins and supplements, we end up spending Rs 15,000-20,000 every month.”
Geeta has a clear idea about her objectives in 2017, “My goal is to win the World Championships in the 55-kg category. Since 2012, I haven’t played in this weight category,” she signs off.
