Geetika Jakhar

Geetika Jakhar

Personal information
Nationality	Indian
Born	18 August 1983 (age 32) Agroha, India
Residence	Hisar
Height	160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Weight	63 Kg
Sport
Country	India
Sport	Freestyle wrestling
Event(s)	63 kg
Medal record Competitor for  India Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow 63 kg Asian Games 2006 Doha 63 kg 2014 Incheon 63 kg Asian Wrestling Championships 2003 Delhi 63 kg 2005 Wuhan 63 kg 2013 Delhi 63 kg Commonwealth Wrestling Championship 2003 London[1] 63 kg 2005 Cape Town[2] 63 kg 2007 Ontario[3] 63 kg World Junior Wrestling Championships 2005 Vilnius[4] 63 kg Asian Junior Wrestling Championships 2004 Almaty[5] 67 kg 2005 Jeju Island[6] 63 kg

Geetika Jakhar (born 18 August 1985) is an Indian wrestler. She is the first women wrestler in the history of Indian sports to be judged the Best Wrestler of the 2005 Commonwealth Championships. For her extraordinary achievements in the field of sports, the government of Haryana has appointed her to the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police.^[7]

She is currently being supported by JSW Sport under the Sports Excellence Programme.^[8]

Personal life and family

Geetika's father Satyavir Singh Jakhar is a sports officer in Hisar, Haryana. She was inspired to take up wrestling by her grand father, Ch. Amar Chand Jakhar, an accomplished wrestler himself. She started wrestling at the age of 13, and was awarded the Bharat Kesari at the age of 15 by beating Sonika Kaliraman in the dangal final in New Delhi in 2000. She has been awarded the Bharat Kesari award for a consecutive 9 years from then on.

Early career

Geetika was actively participating in sports at a school level with her focus being athletics. But the turning point came when her family moved from her native village Agroha to Hisar to provide a better education for her younger brother and her. In an attempt to competitively pursue athletics, her father had taken her to the Mahabir Stadium in Hisar but they returned disappointed without finding any coach. In the nearby wrestling hall, young Geetika was drawn to other girls practising wrestling. She immediately fell in love with the sport and from October 1998, she chose wrestling as her sport, leaving athletics. It took her four months after discovering wrestling when she represented Haryana at the 1999 National Games in Manipur and finished fourth.

She became the youngest wrestler to win a gold medal in all editions of the 2001 National Championships: Sub-Junior, Junior and Senior - an admirable record that has yet to be broken.

1999

• Fourth in National Games Imphal (Manipur) at the age of 13 in 56 kg women freestyle and stood fourth.
• Gold Medal at State Games held at Bhiwani; declared Best Women Wrestler of Haryana.

2000

• Gold Medal at Sub -Junior National championship, Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi.

2001

• Gold Medal at Sub -Junior National Championship.
• Gold Medal at Junior National Championship.
• Gold Medal at Senior National Championship, Nedani, Haryana
• Gold Medal at National Games, Ludhiana, Punjab

International Career

Her international career began with her first appearance at the 2002 World Wrestling Championships in New York, USA.

2002

• Participated in World Championships, New York, USA where she reached to quarter-finals .
• Gold Medal at National Games, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
• Gold Medal at Senior National Championship.

2003

• Participated in World Championships, ATHENS, GREECE where she got 10th position.
• Silver Medal at Senior Asian Championship, India.
• Gold Medal at Commonwealth Championship; Canada.

2005

• Silver Medal at Senior Asian Championship, China.
• Gold Medal at Commonwealth Championship; declared best wrestler of the tournament, first Indian women wrestler to get "Best Wrestler of Commonwealth Championships" title.
• Silver Medal at World Championships held at Lithuania.

2007

• Silver Medal at Commonwealth Championship, Ontario, Canada.
• Gold Medal at Senior National Championship.
• Gold Medal at National Games, Guwahati, Assam
• Participated in Senior Asian Championships, Bishek, Kyrgyzstan^[9]

2012

• Gold Medal at Senior National Championship.

2013

• Bronze Medal at Senior Asian Championship, New Delhi, India

2014

• Silver Medal at the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, Scotland.^[10]
• Bronze Medal at the Asian Games, Incheon, South Korea^[11]

Awards

• Bhim Award, 2003 - given to outstanding athletes from the state of Haryana, India
• Arjuna Award - 2006
• Kalpana Chawla Excellence award for Outstanding Women, 2009

See also

• Martine Dugrenier
• Official Facebook page of Geetika Jakhar
• Official FILA page of Geetika Jakhar

References

1. "2003 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships - London, Ontario, Canada ARTICLES & RESULTS". Commonwealth Amateur Wrestling Association (CAWA). Retrieved 12 September 2015.
2. "2005 - Commonwealth Wrestling Championships - Information & RESULTS". Commonwealth Amateur Wrestling Association (CAWA). Retrieved 12 September 2015.
3. "2007 - Commonwealth Wrestling Championships - Information & RESULTS". Commonwealth Amateur Wrestling Association (CAWA). Retrieved 12 September 2015.
4. "Haryana grapplers strike gold in SA". The Tribune. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
5. "India wins four medals". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
6. "Indian wrestlers win 10 medals". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
7. Geetika Jakhar. glasgow2014.com
8. "JSW Sports Excellence Program Wrestling". www.jsw.in. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
9. "International Wrestling Database". www.iat.uni-leipzig.de. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
10. "Glasgow 2014 - Geetika Jakhar Profile". g2014results.thecgf.com. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
11. "Sports Information". incheon2014ag.org (via Wayback Machine). Olympic Council of Asia. Archived from the original on October 4, 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2016.