Thane policewoman wins 2 silver, 1 bronze in Azerbaijan

A woman Police Naik, Sheetal Mallikarjun Kharatmal from the Thane Rural police department, won two silver and one bronze medals in the International Belt and Mask Wrestling Championship held in Azerbaijan

A woman Police Naik, Sheetal Mallikarjun Kharatmal from the Thane Rural police department, won two silver and one bronze medals in the International Belt and Mask Wrestling Championship held in Azerbaijan.

A woman Police Naik, Sheetal Mallikarjun Kharatmal from the Thane Rural police department, won two silver and one bronze medals in Azerbaijan recently. (HT PHOTO)

Sheetal has been in service for the last 12 years as Thane Rural Police Constable. She won bronze in the International Belt Wrestling and silver in Mask Wrestling Championship that was held from July 28 to August 3 in Baku, Azerbaijan. She competed with participants from 42 different countries.

The 31-year-old Sheetal told Hindustan Times that her inspiration since she was a little girl was always martial artiste Bruce Lee. “Iranians gave tough competition as they follow a specific diet. I was sceptical about winning them. However, I wanted to win at least one medal for India. For the last 19 years, I have been practicing for four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening. There was never any change in this schedule even when I joined the police force.”

Kharatmal was selected in the 55kg category amongst 13 players.

Earlier, Sheetal represented the country 11 times in Judo Martial Games. So far, she has won 65 gold, 43 silver and 9 bronze medals from various national and international competitions.

She has been honoured several awards: the Arjuna award, the Top 15 Women Icon Award (Bangalore), Kohinoor National Award (Pune), Savitribai Phule Award (Mumbai) and Bharat Bhushan Award (Bhopal).