Seema breaking records at will

Gaurav Kanthwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 19

Chamba girl Seema today clocked 9 minutes, 50.54 seconds to reset the 3000m national youth girls’ (U-18) record and clinch the gold medal at the 33rd National Junior Athletics Championships held in Vijaywada.

Seema broke her own national record of 9:56.25, created in April this year, by more than six seconds. 

She also bettered Kerala’s Anumol Thampi’s meet record of 10:02.58. 

The 17-year-old, who trains at the SAI Centre in Dharamsala, has had a remarkable season. She had also set the U-16 2000m national record with a timing of 6:27.13 in November last year. “I was expecting to win a medal here, but a new national record is a pleasant surprise,” said Seema, a Class XII student of Government Senior Secondary School, Dharamsala.

“I had been training here for the last four days and I found the surface quite hard. Somehow, I was not hitting the right stride. On top of it, the weather was hot and humid. Everyone was expecting a slow race. But once the competition began everything was relegated to the background.”

Her achievement is unprecedented among the state’s track and field athletes who are virtually non-existent at the national level.

Coach Kehar Singh Patial is ecstatic with his ward’s performance. “Since the time she set the national record she has shifted her focus to next year’s Youth Olympics,” Patial said.

“Seema will be participating in a few events next year and is aiming to cut her timing to below 9:30. She will surely break the junior national record more times in the coming months.”

Seema became the first track and field athlete from Himachal after Asian Games medallist Suman Rawat to win a medal in any age group in an international competition when she clocked 10:5.27 to clinch the 3000m bronze medal at the Asian Youth Athletics Championship in Bangkok.

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Hailing from Raitan, a remote village in Chamba, the 5 feet 1 inches tall athlete said it was the wish of her late father Vajeeru Ram to see her become a successful international athlete. Her mother is a housewife and ekes out a living by tilling a small chunk of land in the village.

“She desperately needs sponsors,” said Patial.

Other medallists from the region

Girls (U-20) 

Rekha (Haryana; 1.74m) gold in high jump 

Seema (Haryana; 45.34m) gold in discus throw 

Arpandeep Kaur Bajwa (AFI-Punjab; 42.58m) silver in discus throw  

Madhu (Haryana; 4303pts) gold in heptathlon 

Girls (U-18)

Asha Rani (Haryana; 42.39m) gold in discus throw 

Sunita Devi (AFI-Punjab; 41.95m) silver in discus throw

Simran Kaur (AFI-Punjab; 11.88m) silver in triple jump

Boys (U-20) 

Baldeep (AFI-Punjab; 59.29m) silver in hammer throw

Boys (U-18)

Parshant Singh Kanhiya (Haryana; 4.75m) gold in pole vault (national record)

Boys (U-16)

Adish Ghildiyal (Uttarkhand; 18.05m) gold in shot put (national record) 

Dhanveer Singh (AFI-Punjab; 16.91m) bronze in shot put