One of the first photos of Kavita Devi that pops up when you Google her name is of her carrying her opponent, New Zealand's Dakota Kai, above her head like she's holding a five-pound barbell. She's wearing a bright orange kurta, with her long scarf tied around her waist and her dark hair cascading down her back. There's a sneer playing across her face. She looks like she could lift another human being and still be all right -- her power was radiating.
The photo was shot at the 2017 Mae Young Classic women's tournament in July, when she became the first Indian woman to compete in a WWE ring. Three months later, she became the first Indian woman to be signed by the organization.
One year earlier, Canyon Ceman, the WWE senior director of talent development, had a chance meeting with her in Jalandhar, Punjab. One look at her was all that was needed to know she was "WWE material."
The former WWE wrestler and coach, Dalip Singh Rana, aka The Great Khali, invited him to watch a few training sessions at his academy -- Continental Wrestling Entertainment. Ceman walked into the academy under the impression he'd meet with Khali and watch men wrestle. He didn't know if the academy had any women wrestlers. He was there to see if he could spot some potential WWE candidates.
The academy was home to about 80 wrestlers, among them two women. One of the first wrestlers to appear before Ceman was Kavita Devi.
She walked into the ring and demolished her opponent in a match within minutes. Throughout, she had that sneer across her face like she belonged.
"It was an intimidating environment -- there were a lot of men, people from the WWE and Khali watching her -- but she walked into the room and showed us sheer power. It was incredible," Ceman said.
He invited her to the Dubai tryouts in April 2017 immediately.
"She needed to be there," he said.
The Dubai tryout was not easy. At one point during the drills, she desperately needed water. She thought she was going to faint, but she held on. This was not just about her. This was about India. She didn't want anybody to say an Indian failed. She grit her teeth and finished her choreographed drills.
"She demonstrated that she knew the fundamentals, and she showed strength and combat skills, two natural elements we needed in producing a believable WWE star," Ceman said. "There are a lot of athletes who've trained for years to be sports entertainers that do not demonstrate the mastery of fundamentals -- this showed she was dedicated.
"This is a big step forward not just for Devi, but also for Indian wrestling and WWE. India is a huge market for WWE, and for fans to be able to watch a strong and empowered woman perform and win is really important."
For Devi, 34, this is a message for women across India.
"Our society is still struggling to accept the fact that women and men are equal, but I'd like to tell all the women: Work hard to prove your talent and don't let men stop you," Devi said. "You will have to face difficulties. I've had to face my share of them, but believe in yourself and give yourself a chance for the world to believe in you."
Growing up in Malvi, Haryana, Devi hated being put in a box and told what to do. Malvi, with a population of less than 6,000 people, still deals with female feticide, and girls were not usually allowed to be educated beyond high school. Devi did not believe in any of these restrictions placed on women. Cooking, cleaning and housekeeping did not interest her, and she always found ways to secretly learn and participate in sports, be it badminton or track or weightlifting. Whenever people said, "Wear proper clothes," or "Tie your hair up like a proper girl," she would go to the sports grounds and run or lift weights to get the anger out of her system.
Her biggest support system was her older brother, Sandeep Dalal. He was her shield against societal pressures. He would tell her, "Go be whoever you want to be."
After high school, she completed her bachelor's degree. She joined the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB -- Armed Border Forces deployed in the Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Nepal borders to protect the country) and retired as a sub-inspector. She was trained in armed and guerrilla warfare, intelligence operations and for survival in extreme weather.
Even during her time with the border forces, she continued training in weightlifting and Wushu martial arts. She didn't have many female athletes to look up to, but there was one: weightlifter Karnam Malleswari, the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal with a bronze at the Sydney Games. Malleswari radiated power and energy, and Devi aimed to replicate that. Devi found weightlifting cathartic. She realized she was good at it and wanted to pursue it as a career option.
District tournaments led to state tournaments and before she knew it, she was participating in national-level tournaments and winning medals. When she had trouble getting governmental permission to participate in international weightlifting tournaments while being an active part of the forces (she was not allowed to participate in a tournament in Russia), she retired in 2010 to fully focus on weightlifting. She moved to a new training facility in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
In 2016, she won the gold medal in the 75kg category at the South Asian Games.
"Before the gold medal bout began I constantly worried about things like my stamina and the pressure to perform, but as soon as the match began I had one thought in my mind -- to give my best to win India a gold medal -- and when my name was called and the Indian national anthem was played, it was an emotional, tear-filled moment," Devi said.
Between serving for the SSB and winning the gold medal, Devi also married her boyfriend, former volleyball player and SSB cadet Gaurav Tomar. She gave birth to their son Abhijeet Tomar, now 5, in 2012.
Even though she was making inroads in her weightlifting career, she was struggling to find work during the offseason. She stood in lines and met with prospective employers, but nothing bore fruit. That was when she heard about Khali. He had launched an academy in Jalandhar, Punjab. She talked to him over the phone and soon she took a train to the academy to check it out. She was always fascinated with wrestling, and she felt like this was the next "big step" in her career.
"I didn't for a second think I'd pursue another sport, let alone be a part of WWE, but I knew I could use the strength and the resilience I learned from weightlifting in wrestling and I went for it," Devi said.
Soon after, she started training under Khali. He took her under his wing, starting with the fundamentals of wrestling. He knew the first time he saw her that she had the potential to be a great WWE wrestler. He gave her tips after training sessions and personally oversaw her growth at the academy.
"Wrestling is new in this country and I am where I am today only because of Khali sir and his teachings," Devi said.
Wrestling in India meant wrestling against men -- there are few professional female wrestlers in the country -- but that didn't rattle her. She's always played sports against men.
"I've heard men say things like how disgraceful it is to be beaten by women, so it gives me so much more pleasure to beat men sometimes, because that's a slap in the face for men who think they are superior to women," she said. "The more negative things they say, the more energized I am to beat them."
When Devi is not training, she is spending time with her husband and son in Uttar Pradesh. When she is away, her mother-in-law and husband take care of the family.
She struggles a lot to find work-life balance, but her husband has never given up on her. And just like she has proven to them in the past that their beliefs in her have not gone in vain, she says she will work hard to make sure her family's confidence in her is not broken.
Devi's goal in 2018 is to make use of her wrestling background and learn as much as she can at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. And to be a champion.
"My target is to be No. 1 in women's wrestling and to be a WWE champion," Devi said. "I want people to say 'an Indian woman is now the WWE champion.'"