What’s the story?
It has been confirmed by the WWE that Indian weightlifter and professional wrestler Kavita Dalal will be participating in the Mae Young Classic tournament.
Her in-ring name has been revealed to be Kavita Devi and her inclusion in the tournament has made her the first ever Indian woman wrestler to be a part of the WWE.
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In case you didn’t know...
Kavita Dalal belongs to the Malvi village in the Jind district of Haryana, India. She was the winner of a Gold Medal in the Women’s 75 KG weightlifting event at the South Asian Games (2016) held in Guwahati, India, where she posted a total of 210 KGs, the highest by any woman at the event.
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After her weightlifting success, Kavita joined The Great Khali’s Jalandhar-based wrestling school and promotion CWE, where a video of her wrestling in a Salwar Kameez had gone viral.
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Kavita had subsequently taken part in WWE’s Dubai tryouts in April 2017 and was selected to be a part of the Mae Young Classic Women’s tournament. Other names announced alongside Kavita for the tournament include Tessa Blanchard, Abbey Laith, Taynara Conti and Alpha Female.
The heart of the matter
WWE formally made the announcement today that Kavita Dalal, who is being referred to as “Kavita Devi”, and is going to be a part of the Mae Young Classic tournament. Vice-President of Talent Development, Canyon Ceman, was quoted in a press release as saying:
“Kavita Devi gave a strong performance at the WWE’s 2017 Dubai tryout.
She is an athletic and extremely strong woman who demonstrated a solid grasp of the fundamentals of sports entertainment, and a passion to improve that will serve her well in WWE’s upcoming Mae Young Classic tournament.”
Kavita had impressed the WWE officials in her tryout with her skills and also by cutting a promo in Hindi. The video of her promo can be seen below:
The English translation of Kavita’s promo is as follows:
“I don’t need to talk much about myself, because my name itself is my identity – ‘Hard KD’
I have worked tirelessly to achieve this name, I’ve left my parents, my family, my job, my husband and even my little child behind to get where I am today.
I can easily defeat any wrestler in the world, because I’m powerful, because I’m beautiful and because I’m smart.
And now, I need a platform to showcase my talent and there is no bigger platform in the world than the WWE. I can see my dreams coming true, I can see the WWE ring and I want to touch it. So don’t underestimate the women power.”
After confirmed for the tournament, Kavita stated that she was honoured to be the first Indian woman to compete in WWE’s first ever women’s tournament. She said that she hoped to use the platform to inspire other Indian women and to make India proud.
What’s next?
The Mae Young Classic will be taking place on 13th July and 14th July 2017 in Orlando, Florida, at the Full Sail University and will be available on the WWE Network.
Author’s take
Kavita hasn’t been wrestling professionally for a very long time and thus a long-term plan for her being in the WWE may not be in the works just yet. However, it is indeed a great matter of pride for the WWE Universe’s Indian contingent to have one of their own representing them in the tournament.
The 5’ 9” Kavita is certainly going to bring a very interesting dynamic to the Mae Young Classic tournament and if she ends up delivering a decent performance, then the gates of WWE’s performance centre might just open up for her.
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