Search engine Google on Saturday (May 4, 2024) paid tribute to India’s first professional woman wrestler Hamida Banu.
“This Doodle celebrates Indian wrestler Hamida Banu, who is widely considered to be India’s first professional woman wrestler,” read the Google doodle website.
Who created the doodle?
Bangalore-based artist Divya Negi created the illustration celebrating the wrestler.
Who was Hamida Banu?
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,” read the Google doodle website.
“Her name appeared in newspaper headlines for years, and she became known as the “Amazon of Aligarh.” The bouts she won, her diet, and her training regimen were widely covered,” the website said.
The website further described her as: “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.”
