Old Video of Woman Wrestlers Fighting Shared With India-Pak Claim

The video dates back to 2016 and shows Indian wrestlers.

Fact-check: The claim states that the video shows Indian woman wrestler from RSS defeating a Pakistani wrestler.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video, showing a woman wrestler standing inside a wrestling ring challenging the crowd to compete against here when another woman enters the rings and defeats her, is going viral on social media.

The claim along the video is associating the clip with "Hindu pride" while stating that the challenger is from Pakistan and the woman who defeated her is an Indian.

However, neither the woman wrestler is from Pakistan, nor is it a communal matter.

The video dates back to 2016 and both the women seen in the clip are Indian. This is a video of a wrestling entertainment program which was started by the famous Indian wrestler The Great Khali.

CLAIM

The caption shared with the video suggests that a Pakistani wrestler was defeated by an India wrestler who also belongs to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

An archived version of the post can be seen here. 

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Similar posts can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

On conducting a reverse image search of some of the keyframes of the video, we found out a news report by an English newspaper, DNA, from 16 June 2016.

The report carried a similar image of the event as the viral video.

The article was posted in 2017.

(Source: DNA/Screenshot)

According to the report, the wrestlers were identified as BB Bulbul, India's first professional woman wrestler and Kavita, a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) champion.

BB Bulbul is seen openly challenging the crowd for a wrestling match, when Kavita accepts the challenge and defeats her. This match was organized by the Punjab based Continental Wrestling Entertainment (CWE) which was by Indian wrestler Khali in 2015.

The video of this wrestling match was also uploaded on CWE's verified YouTube channel on 16 June 2016.

It is titled 'KAVITA accepted the open challenge from BB Bull Bull.'

There is no mention about anyone being a Pakistani wrestler.

WAS BB BULBUL PAKISTANI?

We found an interview of BB Bulbul on YouTube channel, 101 India, wherein she reveals her real name to be Sarabjit Kaur.

She also adds that she is an Indian and she did her wrestling training from Jalandhar, Punjab.

According to another article published by an English newspaper, The Indian Express on 5 September 2017, Kavita Devi has been an MMA champion in the past.

At present, apart from being a professional wrestler, she is also an officer in the Haryana Police.

We found no affiliation of her with RSS.

Clearly, the claim about a wrestling match between a Pakistani and an Indian women is false as both the wrestlers seen in the video are Indians.

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