How Seema Punia overcame obstacles to qualify for her fourth Olympics
The former Asian Games gold medalist showed that she’s not done yet as she booked a berth for Tokyo 2020 in June
Seema Punia will have another shot at Olympic glory after she qualified for her fourth Olympics during the Inter-State athletics meet in Patiala. She hurdled the discus to 63.72m, past the qualifying mark of 63.50m, to book a berth for Tokyo 2020, which began on July 23.
The 38-year-old, who had first burst onto the scene in 2002 when she won a bronze at the World Junior Championships showed that she isn’t done yet.
Born in Sonepat, Haryana, Seema Punia (earlier known as Seema Antil) believes sports opened doors for her.
“My life revolves around discus,” she had told Firstpost in 2018.
“That’s the only thing I know. The sport has given me so much, allowing me to explore the world. If it was not for discus, I would have been confined to some remote village in Haryana attending to cows. My mission is to win an Olympic medal, which is still unaccomplished.”
The first time Seema tasted success at a multi-sport event was in 2006, when she won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She has gone on to claim a medal in four successive Commonwealth Games, the latest being another silver at the 2018 edition in Gold Coast.
The renowned Indian athlete has also shone on the continental stage. She won a gold at the Asian Games in 2014 in Incheon and won a bronze four years later.
But despite competing at the last three Olympics, she hasn’t quite been able to perform on the biggest stage. Even her road to qualification for Tokyo 2020 was replete with obstacles.
In April 2000, she contracted Covid-19 while training in Russia and had to spend long days in solitude in a foreign land. She struggled to get back into shape and couldn’t even climb a flight of stairs without feeling breathless.
She has competed on and off for the past three years and was nursing a glute injury recently. The Inter-state Athletics Meet was the last qualifying event for Tokyo 2020, and it was only the third event Seema competed at since the 2018 Asian Games.
The Indian athlete had been training in Belarus and returned to India early morning on June 27, while her event was on June 30. Four of her five legal throws at the tournament were over the 60m, and she breached the Olympic qualifying mark on her fourth throw.
“Giving up is not a choice. You have been given this one life, and you have to make the most of it,” she had told the Indian Express in March this year. “I want to be a beacon of hope for other women. There are so many oppressed women in our society. If you go to the interiors of Haryana you will see the plight of women. Now all I think about is throwing better.”
She will become the third Indian woman, after Shiny Wilson and Sania Mirza, to compete at four Olympics.
When will Seema Punia be seen in action?
Seema Punia will feature in the discus qualification Group A on Saturday, July 31.