Google introduced a doodle on Saturday, May 4th, celebrating Indian wrestler Hamida Banu, acknowledged as India’s first professional female wrestler.
The description about the 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.”
The illustrated Doodle, created by Divya Negi from Bengaluru, shows the wrestler wearing a pink and polka dot outfit, holding hands in a combat stance and surrounded by plants and animals.
The match took place on the same day in 1954. Hamida won the championship for the first time in the history of wrestling after winning the match in a record-breaking 1 minute, 34 seconds. Hamida then went on to become a world-renowned professional wrestler.
She then went on to defeat the famous wrestler Baba Pahalwan, who later announced his retirement from wrestling.
Born into a family of wrestlers in the early 1900s near Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Hamida Banu, also known as the ‘Amazon of Aligarh,’ was deeply entrenched in the sport from a young age. Her dedication to wrestling led her to triumph in more than 300 competitions during her illustrious career, which spanned the 1940s and 1950s.
