Chamba’s athlete for Youth Olympics

Gaurav Kanthwal

Chamba girl Seema is one of the seven Indians to have earned a quota place in athletics for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (October 6-18) in Buenos Aires. The 17- year-old from Raitan village, 25 km from Chamba, clocked 9:55.87 seconds to claim the silver medal in the 3,000 m race on the concluding day of the Asian Area qualification event in Bangkok on July 5. 

“It is a dream come true for me. Youth Olympics will be the first big test of my career and I am determined to shine in Buenos Aires. My whole effort would be to better my timing in the next three-four months,” Seema said from Bangkok.

Japan’s Miyaki Sugata recorded a time of 9:40.82 seconds to win the gold. Hidori Kidokoro, also of Japan, claimed the bronze with a time of 9:57.54 seconds. The silver medal was a marked improvement from the third-place finish Seema had picked up at the Asian Junior Championships where she had clocked 10:12.33 seconds.

Seema is one of the rarest athletes from the state to make it to the Youth Olympics. There are many firsts to her credit in the track and field event in Himachal Pradesh. Seema became the first 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 seconds to clinch the 3,000 m bronze medal at the Asian Youth Athletics Championship in Bangkok.

A Class XII student of Government Senior Secondary School, Dharamsala, she was the only athlete from Himachal in the individual events in the Khelo India School Games in New Delhi in February 2018. She clocked 10:15.15 seconds to win the 3,000 m race there. The 5ft 1in tall athlete clocked 9 minutes, 50.54 seconds to reset the 3000 m national youth girls’ (U-18) record and clinch the gold medal at the 33rd National Junior Athletics Championships held in Vijaywada in November 2017. She broke her own national record of 9:56.25 seconds, created in April 2017, by more than six seconds.

Seema is currently being trained by SAI coach Kehar Singh Patial at the SAI training centre in Dharamsala. Her village Raitan, 100 km from Dharamsala, had a primary school, but the ground was not big enough for a 400m race. Her childhood coach Hans Raj, a Physical Training Instructor (PTI) in Bhatka, honed her skills.

“There are many young talented girls like Seema in Chamba district. There are currently three-four girls from Seema’s school at the SAI centre in Dharamsala. I would say some of them may go on to be better than her. But it is very important for her to win and show the way to others,” Hans Raj said