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A podium finish at 2022 Asian Games on athlete Harmilan Bains’s mind
In Warangal last month, Harmilan won women’s 1,500m race by clocking 4:05, breaking Sunita Rani’s record of 4:06.03
Harmilan Kaur Bains, the 1,500m national record holder, was felicitated by PlayWrite Foundation in Chandigarh on Sunday.
Harmilan had last month won the women’s 1,500m race by clocking 4:05 in the 60th National Open Athletics Championships in Warangal. She broke Sunita Rani’s long standing record of 4:06.03 set at 2002 Asian Games in Busan. She had also won gold in the women’s 800m race.
Lauding Bains for her recent achievement, Chitranjan Agarwal and Vivek Atray, co-founders of PlayWrite Foundation, said that the ace athlete by setting a new record has made us all proud and will surely go a long way with success coming her way in more athletic championships.
Bains grew as an athlete at school and then at Punjabi University, Patiala. In 2019, she broke the university’s 1,500m record clocking 4:16.68. Her mother Madhuri Saxena, who comes from Uttar Pradesh, is a 800m silver medallist at the 2002 Asian Games. Her father Amandeep Bains of Punjab is a 1,500m medallist at the South Asian Games.
Giving details about her career, she said, “My first-ever race was a zonal meet when I was in Class 3. I was a class topper in academics, but I finished second in that race. I wanted to quit sports because of that, but I won the next race and my photo was published in the paper. From then onwards it has been only sports for me.” Bains now wants to go one step further and is targeting a podium finish at the 2022 Asian Games.
“I have set a new national record, but I think I can push myself even further. I am sure with extensive practise and training I will be able to bring a medal in Paris 2024,” said the star athlete, who also pointed out that the number of tracks in Punjab were inadequate, and every district needed to have at least three.
