07 May,2017 08:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Gitanjali Chandrasekharan
If you want my pictures, you can go to YouTube; you'll even be able to see my fights there, says 34-year-old Kavita Dalal aka 'Hard KD', slated to become India's first female entry to the very entertaining world of WWE
Kavita Dalal
If you want my pictures, you can go to YouTube; you'll even be able to see my fights there," says 34-year-old Kavita Dalal aka 'Hard KD', slated to become India's first female entry to the very entertaining world of WWE. She's not boasting about her popularity. Far from it. Speaking over the phone from Kangniwal village in Jalandhar Tehsil where she's training at the Great Khalli's (former WWE star) Continental Wrestling Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., Kavita sounds quite matter-of-fact.
Before taking up wrestling a year ago, Hard KD, as she insists we write her name, was a weight lifter at the international level having participated and winning medals at the South Asian Games (gold in 2016 in the 75 kg category). With a whole bouquet of awards from various championships in her basket, she says, the career left her wanting something more.
"It [WWE] gives publicity and recognition which is what a player wants. I also wanted to do something new. I found out about sir [Khalli], and contacted him to join the academy," she adds. That she might gain the recognition of being the first Indian woman to participate in WWE became an added incentive.
After training for nearly a year, Kavita went for a tryout along with five other students of the academy (she was the only female) to a WWE tournament in Dubai last month April. While there have been rumours that she has signed a contract, she denies it. "The results aren't out yet." However, Khalli says the contract signing is a procedural detail that should unfold in a few weeks.
Kavita is from Malvi village in Haryana's Jind district. While her immediate family may not be into professional sports, her husband is a volley ball player, her sister-in-law is a weight lifter and her father-in-law used to be a kabaddi player. She stays at the academy while she trains and meets her husband, who has been posted in Varanasi, and their five-year-old son, who lives with his grandmother, only on holidays and brief vacations. "I am able to do this thanks to support from the family," she admits.
In Dubai, she was put to task by WWE trainer Tara Halaby.
"I did not give up and completed all tasks," she says. Her idols are Natalya Neidhart and Sasha Banks. Their physique and entertainment quotient are reasons why.
Does she think she will make it? "If women from other countries can make it, why not me?"
Her YouTube videos show her fighting in a salwar kameez. Will there be an outfit change? "Yes, now, I wear proper fighting gear."
The academy has a total of eight female students, says Khalli. Kavita, with her career as a weightlifter, stands out because she is physically fit and has the advantage of training. And, all students undergo sessions where they are taught the WWE way of things. "You have to entertain the crowd and learn how to speak and behave in a certain manner," she says on everyone's behalf. The training, they hope, comes through.
