Geeta Phogat is unique among women in India.<br/> <br />She's making history as the nation's first female wrestler to qualify for the Olympics taking place this year in London.<br/> <br />Geeta's now training at Asia's largest sports institute in Punjab state but life could have been very different.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: GEETA PHOGAT SAYING (Hindi):<br/> <br />"If I was not a wrestler, or if my father hadn't been a good coach, I would have been married by now."<br/> <br />Geeta started training in an enclosure adjoining a cattle shed in her village home.<br/> <br />Her father was her coach.<br/> <br />Her mother says he gave her a very hard time.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: DAYA KAUR, GEETA PHOGAT'S MOTHER, SAYING (Hindi):<br/> <br />"She used to get thrashings from her father. He used to keep a stick. If she was late, even by one minute in the morning, she used to get it. If she performed badly during practice she would face the stick as well."<br/> <br />Back in Geeta's home state of Haryana, her father still coaches other girls including her youngster sister Babita.<br/> <br />Babita's also an international wrestler.<br/> <br />She bagged a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.<br/> <br />But here wrestling is widely viewed as a male sport.<br/> <br />Haryana state is notorious for its gender bias.<br/> <br />Sex-selective abortion is a regular practice among parents anxious to avoid the financial burden of having daughters.<br/> <br />Geeta's father Mahavir Singh, himself a former wrestler, says poverty was a big obstacle.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: MAHAVIR SINGH, FATHER OF GEETA PHOGAT, SAYING (Hindi):<br/> <br />"Milk, vegetables, everything is so expensive and I had to provide five daughters with an athlete's diet. That would cost a minimum of 200 rupees (3.6 U.S. dollars) a day and I had five athletic daughters which means at least 1, 000 rupees (18.4 dollars) a day. Where do I get that money from."<br/> <br />Against the odds the Phogat sisters are celebrities in their home village.<br/> <br />Now Geeta's carrying the nation's hope for an Olympic gold in London, and the aspirations of more young Indian women that their futures too can differ from traditional expectations.<br/> <br />Paul Chapman, Reuters
