Who is Hamida Banu Celebrated by Google Doodle Today?

Google Doodle today celebrates the extraordinary life of Indian wrestler Hamida Banu, who is widely considered to be the first professional woman wrestler of India.

The description with the Google Doodle states, “Hamida Banu was a trailblazer of her time, and her fearlessness is remembered throughout India and across the world. Outside of her sporting accomplishments, she will always be celebrated for staying true to herself."

Born into a family of wrestlers in the early 1900s near Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Banu grew up wrestling, winning over 300 competitions throughout her career spanning the 1940s and 1950s. Women’s participation in athletics was strongly discouraged by prevalent social norms at the time, but Banu was passionate and she competed with men anyway, issuing an open challenge to all male wrestlers and wagering her hand in marriage to the first to defeat her. Her career even extended into the international arena, where she won against a Russian woman wrestler Vera Chistilin in less than two minutes.

Her name appeared in newspaper headlines for years and was known as the “Amazon of Aligarh.”

On this day in 1954, Hamida Banu garnered international acclaim with her swift victory in a wrestling match, defeating the renowned wrestler Baba Pahalwan in just 1 minute and 34 seconds. This triumph prompted Baba Pahalwan to retire from professional wrestling.

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