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Wearing salwar-suits, Indian mother takes to international WWE ring
WWE fights may be flashy, hard and violent at times but the first Indian woman to get into that ring at the international level has beaten bigger odds at home to reach there.
Kavita Devi, who is better known in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) international circles as “Hard KD”, is currently training and wrestling in Orlando, Florida, in the United States as part of her three-year contract with the WWE.
Kavita, the first Indian woman to reach the international level in WWE, is no ordinary sportswoman.
Even while being a professional WWE wrestler, Kavita is making sure that she dresses traditionally, the Indian way. When she fights in the ring, she is always dressed in a salwar-kameez, a popular dress for Indian women.
“I am proud that I enter the ring wearing a salwar suit. It is part of our Indian culture. I am the only one at the international level (in WWE) to be doing so. Many girls in India avoid getting into WWE wrestling seeing the clothes that most women in this sport wear inside the ring. I have broken that image and more girls in my country are getting inspired,” Kavita told IANS in an interview, pointing out that wearing the salwar-suit was no impediment in her performance in the ring.
Being married in a conventional family in 2009 and mother of a six-year-old son, Kavita has tackled several odds, including coming from a humble farming background, growing up among five siblings and facing difficult times economically.
Hailing from Malvi village in Haryana’s Jind district, this determined Haryanvi Jat girl is out to prove her mettle in WWE circles.
She is full of praise for her mentors — “The Great Khali” (Dalip Singh Rana) and Jinder Mahal, both former WWE champions.
“Khali sir got me to the (WWE) ring. He has a big contribution in shaping my career. Jinder Mahal is a big star in WWE. He has earned a big name for India at the international level,” said Kavita, who has trained in Khali’s wrestling academy in Jalandhar.
Kavita, 34, who had been wrestling for over 15 years before switching to WWE (in 2016), won a gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games for India.
Weighing 75-kgs and standing 5-feet 9-inches tall, Kavita has been part of the Continental Wrestling Entertainment (CWE) and participated in the Mae Young Classic WWE championship event in Florida in June 2017 — the first Indian woman in this professional circuit.
Even though she is fully focused on her training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando and her upcoming fights, Kavita misses her son whom she had to leave behind in India.
“I had never thought of entering WWE. I was only interested in wrestling. But I wanted to do something different. This is a very good field that I have found. Here, I can do a lot for our country. I have reached this level after going through very hard times and tough training and testing,” Kavita said.
Asked if the WWE is a real fight or just an entertainment show, Kavita said: “WWE has the word entertainment in it but let me tell you that the fight is real. The athletes make big jumps, hit each other and get hurt. All of this is real.”
Confident about where she has reached and what she is doing, Kavita is modest when she says: “I feel proud that I am able to motivate girls to get into this field where Indian women have not ventured at all. It is heartening to see that girls are getting inspired by me.”
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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