2018 Commonwealth Games: Know your CWG athlete: Seema Punia

NEW DELHI: At the age of 34, Seema Punia will be taking the field at the 2018 Commonwealth Games for a fourth time, hoping for a podium finish in as many attempts. With silver medals at the 2006 Melbourne Games and bronze at the 2010 Delhi Games, Seema is one of the most celebrated field athletes from India; she has also represented the country in three Olympics Games (2004, 2012 and 2016).
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With a 61.05m throw - the second best of her career - at NIS Patiala during the 22nd Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships, Seena booked her place for the CWG to be held at Gold Coast City in Australia from April 4-15. As per the rankings for women’s discus throw this season, Seema heads into the quadrennial games as the second-ranked athlete behind defending champion and former world champion, Australia’s Dani Stevens.
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With her gold-winning effort at Patiala, Seema hit her best mark in two years. She was competing in her first competition of the year and that should give a fair indication that she has every chance of making it to the podium yet again.

Born at village Khewda in Sonepat district of Haryana, Seema began her athletics career at the age of 11 as a hurdler and a long-jumper but later took to discus throw. She came into the limelight in 2000 when she beat then national discus throw champion Neelam Jaswant Singh at the Calcutta Open Nationals with an effort of 57.30m.
In the same year, a 17-year-old Seema won the discus throw gold ar the World Junior Athletic Championship in Santiago, Chile. However, this was removed after she tested positive for the stimulant pseudoephedrine, a drug widely used in medications for common cold. Under the IAAF rules of that time, there was no suspension for testing positive for stimulants and so she was let off with a warning.
In 2002, Seema won a bronze medal at the next World Junior Championships. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, she picked her first medal in a multi-sport mega event by winning a silver but then got embroiled in a doping controversy just before the Doha Asian Games, which she skipped. In 2014, Seema claimed her only gold in a multi-sport mega event so far at the Incheon Asian Games.
Indian women’s athletics team for 2018 CWG:
Hima Das (200m & 400m, 4x400m relay), Suriya Longanathan (10000m), Nayana James (long jump), Neena Pinto (long jump), Seema Punia (discus throw), Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (discus throw), Purnima Hembram (heptahalon), Soumya Baby (20km race walk), Khushbir Kaur (20km race walk), M R Poovamma (4x400m relay), Sonia Baishya (4x400m relay), Saritaben Laxmanbhai Gayakwad (4x400m relay), Juana Murmu (4x400m relay).