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Pooja Dhanda Biography: Age, Career, Family and More

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated October 1, 2026 • 6 min read

Quick Info

Date of birth1 January 1994

Age28 Years (as of 2022)

BirthplaceBudana Village, Narnaund, Hisar district, Haryana, India

ProfessionFreestyle Wrestler

NationalityIndian

Marital statusUnmarried

FamilyFather: Ajmer Dhanda; Mother: Kamlesh Dhanda; Brother: Sumit Dhanda

Pooja Dhanda Biography

Indian freestyle wrestler from Haryana who rose from judo beginnings to win international medals including a World Championship bronze and Commonwealth sil

Early life and background

Pooja Dhanda was born on 1 January 1994 and raised in Budana village in Narnaund, Hisar district, Haryana, India. She grew up in a family where her father, Ajmer Dhanda, worked as a truck driver for the Haryana Animal Husbandry centre in Hisar and her mother, Kamlesh Dhanda, was a homemaker. She has a brother, Sumit Dhanda, who serves as a Sub Fire Officer with the Haryana Fire Service in Hisar. Pooja attended Govt. College, Hisar.

From a young age she trained at Mahavir Stadium in Hisar under coach Subash Chander Soni. She began her athletic career in judo, collecting junior national gold medals and medalling at Asian cadet events, before transitioning to freestyle wrestling in her mid-teens after guidance from an experienced coach who suggested her physique was better suited to wrestling.

Physical profile

Pooja Dhanda competes in the 57–58 kg weight range. Her listed height is approximately 162 cm (1.62 m or 5'4") and her competition weight around 57 kg (125 lbs). She has brown eyes and black hair.

Career

Pooja made an early international impact by winning a silver medal at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore. After switching focus fully to wrestling, she won the Senior National Championships in 2013 and recorded a bronze at the 2014 Asian Wrestling Championships.

Her career has included setbacks as well as successes. In 2015 she sustained a knee injury during training at the Sports Authority of India Centre in Lucknow that required two surgeries and kept her out of competition for about two years. During recovery she was considered for a screen role in the film Dangal but could not take part because of the injury.

Pooja returned to form with a bronze medal at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Championships in the 58 kg category. The next year, 2018, became one of her breakout seasons: she earned a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games and secured a bronze medal at the World Wrestling Championships in the 57 kg class. In domestic competition she has been awarded the title Bharat Kesari on multiple occasions.

She also competed in the Pro Wrestling League in 2018, where she recorded a notable victory over Olympic and world-level opponent Helen Maroulis, an achievement Pooja has spoken about with pride.

Honours

Pooja Dhanda was a recipient of the Arjuna Award in 2019, one of India’s top honours for sporting achievement.

Public profile

Pooja is unmarried and her zodiac sign is Capricorn. She is known to be a dog lover and shares images of her dogs on social media. Her favourite foods include sarso ka saag and matar paneer. She drives a Kia Seltos GTX Plus.

Latest updates

As of the information included here, Pooja’s most recent major competitive highlights are the 2018 World Championship bronze, the 2018 Commonwealth Games silver, and the 2019 Arjuna Award. Her listed coach is Subhash Chander Soni and she competes primarily in the 57 kg freestyle division.
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Recent Work

2018 World Wrestling Championships

Bronze medal in the 57 kg category (Budapest)

2018
2018 Commonwealth Games

Silver medal in wrestling (Gold Coast)

2018
2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Championships

Bronze medal in the 58 kg category (Ashgabat)

2017
2010 Summer Youth Olympics

Silver medal (Singapore)

2010
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Career Highlights

  1. Silver medalist at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
  2. Senior National Champion (2013)
  3. Bronze medalist at the 2014 Asian Wrestling Championships
  4. Bronze medalist at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Championships
  5. Silver medalist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
  6. Bronze medalist at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships
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Frequently Asked Questions

When was Pooja Dhanda born?

1 January 1994

What is Pooja Dhanda known for?

Freestyle Wrestler

What is Pooja Dhanda’s marital status?

Unmarried