Good Sports: WRESTLING STAR
Neetu Sarkar, one of India’s top female wrestlers, overcame great odds to become a sports star. Forced by her family to marry a mentally challenged 43-year-old man when she was just 13, she escaped that marriage but couldn’t escape another marriage the following year. Her interest in wrestling was met with opposition from elders and family members in her Haryana village, but she persisted, often having to train discreetly.
After winning a silver medal at the National Games and representing India at the Junior World Championships in Brazil, Sarkar has received more support from everyone. “People who would say things against me and my passion for wrestling are now asking me to teach their own daughters,” Sarkar told the Hindustan Times. “Take them with you, they say. Raise them like you.”
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