New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS) Having battled arthritis, braving the emotion of being away from a four-year-old son, managing PhD and still coming out with a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games 2026.

Hayana’s Seema Kaliramna is a PhD scholar, a mother and a CWG 2026 medallist in discus throw, who is championing different top roles simultaneously. Many can’t do even one, and she is braving all of them at once. Kaliramna used her PhD research to clinch the bronze medal at the Glasgow Games, and she has now put her focus on the upcoming Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, where she is keen to change the colour of her medal.

“My next focus is on the Asian Games. I have won a bronze at the Commonwealth Games; now my focus lies on changing the colour of the medal at the Asian Games,” she told IANS in an exclusive interaction.

But the journey has not been easy. Even at the CWG, she was in a spot of bother. Her first throw in the event hit the nets. But the Bhiwani-based athlete called her inner scholar to switch her role for a bit. “I was not worried at all after my first throw hit the net. I knew I had five throws. My second throw went to something around 57m, but I told myself that I have four more throws left and I have to do my best in them,” she said.

When the sportsperson took a backseat, the scholar took over. Even her PhD research is titled ‘Impact of Imaginary and Positive Self-Talk Training on Athletes’ Performance.’ She said the mental toughness helped her propel a throw of 58.65m on the third attempt, which ultimately handed her the bronze.

“If I had not been mentally prepared, I would not have been able to nail my other throws well. The topic of my PhD is “Impact of Imaginary and Positive Self-Talk Training on Athletes’ Performance.” I have been applying this to myself and have yielded results from that, including in the CWG 2026,” she added.

Seema also battled arthritis after the birth of her child in 2022. She was advised to take steroids, but it was her husband, Ravinder, who is also her coach, who advised her to train her muscles, hoping that it would help her recover.

“Arthritis made me weak. I lost weight from 80-85 kg to 50-55 kg. But my husband supported me so well at that time. I was advised by the doctor to take steroids, saying, ‘We can’t cure this properly and can only maintain it’.

“But my husband supported me a lot. He told me that ‘we will practice and train, which will help me build muscle and it might bring the arthritis pain down a lot’. And that was true; the arthritis pain is not permanent now. It comes only a few times,” she added.

However, Seema has to be careful of what she eats. At a recent event, she had swelling in her hands and legs and did not know how it occurred until she figured it out a couple of days later.

“During my recent Silver Continental tour, I had swelling in my hands and legs. I did not understand what I ate that led to this swelling. 2-3 days later, I figured out what caused my hands to swell. So I left that, and the swelling went away after a couple of days. So I have to stay vigilant about what to eat and what not to. Arthritis issues do come at times. But it is better now,” she said.

The physical strength is there, so is the mental toughness. She has to manage different roles as a mother, her study and also her sport. But the athlete, who is supported by Inspire Institute of Sport, opened up about how she manages all the different roles. “Study has never been a barrier to sports. We have rest on Saturday and Sunday, so I work on my PhD on those days or on other rest days. My family has been very supportive of me. My son’s grandparents take care of my son, so I receive help from them.

Training makes her stay away from her son. But he does travel with his grandparents to pay a visit from Bhiwani to Patiala to meet his mother. “My son travels to Patiala (training place) with his grandparents. He stays here 2-3 days and then leaves,” she said.

She put her studies to the best work one could. She braved arthritis and also the emotions of being away from her son. But all those may have given her more strength. To keep improving and to hunt for medals. A CWG medal is in the pocket; an Asian Games medal would be icing on the cake for now. And she might do it while championing three roles at once.

–IANS

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