Google Doodle honors Hamida Banu, first female wrestler!!!

On Saturday, May 4, google Doodle honored Hamida Banu, the first professional female wrestler from India. The Doodle commemorated a woman's debut into a historically male-dominated sport in the 1940s and 1950s. "Beat me in a bout and I'll marry you." BBC stated that Banu issued this challenge to male wrestlers in february 1954, citing news articles from the period. According to the story, Banu quickly overcame two male wrestling champions, one from Patiala, punjab, and the other from Kolkata, West Bengal.

Hamida Banu traveled to vadodara, Gujarat, in May for her third fight of the year. According to the BBC, Sudhir Parab, a vadodara local, recalls clearly the ensuing chaos from when Banu used to visit the city as a child. He remembered how posters and banners were hung from trucks and other vehicles to advertise her arrival. According to the story, newspapers dubbed her the "Amazon of Aligarh." Banu's next opponent, baba Pahalwan, was introduced to her when the wrestler she was scheduled to face abruptly withdrew from the bout.

On May 3, 1954, the Associated press stated that "the woman won a fall, and the bout lasted one minute and 34 seconds." According to the article, the referee then ruled that Pahalwan was beyond her marriageable age.

Why did Banu become so well-liked?

According to the study, hamida Banu's height, weight, and diet all made headlines. hamida Banu was said to be 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 108 kg. Banu's daily intake consisted of six eggs, a chicken, 2.8 litres of soup, 1.8 litres of fruit juice, 5.6 litres of milk, half a kilo of butter, two large loaves of bread, and two plates of biryani. Author Maheshwar Dayal wrote in his 1987 book about how Banu's fame attracted people from far and wide, since she fought a lot in punjab and Uttar Pradesh.