For what reason did Ritu, broadly showed wrestling (alongside her sisters) by their dad and severe stickler Mahavir Phogat—the haanikaarak bapu of Dangal distinction—choose to dig into MMA?
“I am the more daring one in the family. I generally use to think about who is better whether a fighter takes on a wrestler or karate contender takes on a taekwondo warrior,” Ritu says. “That is the means by which I began viewing MMA. I think it was around 2012. Later on, I came to know a great deal about the MMA competitors, who originate from various hand to hand fighting foundations like wrestling, boxing, kick-boxing, or taekwondo.
Blended Martial Arts, as the name recommends, is a battle sport where any style of battling is permitted, with the point of a thump out or an accommodation. When it originally took off as a sorted out game in the mid 90s, it was generally accepted that punching or kicking abilities will rule the game. Rather, as it advanced, wrestling aptitudes have taken centrestage, particularly the accommodation based, ground-hooking framework known as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or BJJ.
Ritu’s senior sister Geeta, the primary Indian lady wrestler to win a Commonwealth Games gold decoration and the first from India to fit the bill for the Olympics, imagines that MMA suits Ritu’s inalienable nature.
“She is exceptionally forceful,” Geeta says. “You can’t thump an individual in wrestling, you can just stick them on the tangle. However, Ritu would regularly punch others during training. She has that streak.”
Ritu figured persuading her dad would be a nerve-wracking prospect, however she was amazed.
“At the point when my sisters saw recordings of MMA battles, they let me know, ‘Ritu, you can pull this off'”, she says. “At that point my dad delineated for me, ‘in the event that you are certain about this, at that point please give it your everything’.”
Ritu’s move from wrestling to MMA was not astonish for her family, however for the bigger wrestling brotherhood it was surprising. Her wrestling profession was going great, and she easily fit the Phogat form. On the off chance that more established sister Babita, 29 (Ritu is 25), is a various gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games and a medallist at the World Championships, cousin-sister Vinesh, 24, is the main Indian lady to win gold at the Asian Games (2018).
In 2017, Ritu turned into the main Indian lady wrestler to win a silver award at the Under-23 World Championships. She won a bronze at the senior Asian Championships too that year. In November 2018, she was incorporated into the TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) for the 2020 Tokyo Games, where chosen competitors with potential to win an award are given exceptional fiscal help.
Of course, The Wrestling Federation of India was not content with her choice to battle in MMA. Wrestling is one of the five games reserved by the games service in the ‘need’ classification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In any case, Geeta says Ritu has not abandoned her Olympic dreams.
“She is required to contend in the National Wrestling Championships toward the year’s end,” Geeta says. “Adjusting both can be precarious however everything relies upon the wellness of the competitor.”
Ritu includes that the components of wrestling in MMA have helped her in not putting some distance between the Olympic game.
“I am doing wrestling in MMA so I don’t miss it accordingly,” she says. “In any case, I will miss wrestling for India in worldwide rivalries. One thing will consistently stay normal for me whether in wrestling or MMA, I will consistently play for the nation. In MMA my yearning is to turn into India’s first best on the planet.”