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Watch The Real-Life Geeta And Babita Phogat Create History At The 2010 Commonwealth Games

Packing a punch.
Ravi Choudhary/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

One of the most powerful moments in Dangal is of a 22 -year-old Geeta Phogat winning India's first gold medal in women's wrestling at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

The win paved the way for other women wrestlers to pursue the sport in Haryana -- starting with the five other Phogat sisters and ending with Sakshi Malik becoming the first female wrestler to win an Olympic medal this year. She was to script history again -- in 2012. Phogat became the first female wrestler to qualify for the Olympics. In the same year, she also won the bronze model at the 2012 World Wrestling Championships, beating Ukraine's Natalya Sinishin.

In the 2010 Commonwealth Games final, Phogat defeated Australia's Emily Benstead to win the finals of the 55 kg category in women's wrestling. A day later at the same event, Geeta's younger sister Babita, also an important character in the film, won the silver medal in 51 kg freestyle wrestling after she lost in the final to Nigeria's Christi Nwoye.

Four years later, she followed with a gold medal in the women's 55 kg freestyle wrestling category of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Babita dominated over her opponent, Canada's Brittanne Laverdure, for the entire duration of the match. She wasn't the only Phogat sister winning the medal at the Games. Vinesh, her cousin, also won a gold in the 48 kg category.

Watch their bouts here.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.