After the CWG bronze, Seema Kaliramna is gearing up for the next step towards the Olympics at the Asian Games
Seema Kaliramna (Image Credit: Special Arrangement) The throw of 57.44m in Bhubaneswar last month was not quite up to the 59.73m that Seema Kaliramna produced two months ago. She didn’t seem particularly bothered by it.Bhubaneswar’s competition was the World Athletics Silver Level Continental Tour meet at the Kalinga Stadium on August 22, her first competition after her Commonwealth Games bronze in Glasgow.In the women’s discus, Commonwealth Games winner Samantha Hall was in the field along with Thailand’s Subenrat Insaeng and Brazil’s Andressa de Morais. De Morais won with 58.66m, Hall threw 58.43m, Subenrat 58.33m and Seema finished fourth with 57.44m.She achieved a personal best at the National Interstate Championships in June this year, where she also broke the Asian Games qualifying mark of 55.48m. A month later in Glasgow, she won bronze at the Commonwealth Games with a performance of 58.65m.Now, with the Asian Games looming, the 27-year-old discus thrower is not giving a target distance for what comes next.“I just want to throw the discus as far as I can. Now it can be 60, it can be 65, it can be 70 meters sir. Now whether I get a medal or not, that’s a different story sir. I want to do my best sir,” Seema told Timesofindia.com in an exclusive interaction ahead of the Asian Games in Aichi, Japan, which begins on September 19.The 60m game is just before the competition, but Seema is in no rush to force it, in fact she laughs off the temptation to chase too fast.
Seema Kaliramna (Image Credit: Special Arrangement)
“It’s better if we go slowly. If we go all the way, it’s a little messy.”Her trainer and husband, Ravinder ‘Monu’ Kaliramna, works the same way. The plan was always to use the CWG as part of the build-up to the Asian Games.Seem’s own rating after a throw of 57.44m was similarly measured.“It’s not that bad. According to the Asian Games, it’s good.”
From 54-55m in training to 59.73m
It took time to build this peace. Seema was preparing for the World University Games after her marriage in 2019 and says she was throwing 54-55m in training. A knee injury and then COVID kept her away from competition. She continued to train at the same distance but didn’t get the races she needed.Then came pregnancy and childbirth.Seema gave birth to a son Rudra in 2022. He is now four years old. She returned to competitive racing 11 months after his birth, but the period surrounding her pregnancy and childbirth left her struggling with serious physical problems.After giving birth, Seema’s physical problems became severe. She described how her shoulder and hip froze during pregnancy and how the condition worsened after giving birth. Doctors told her she had severe arthritis.“At that time I was not able to walk up to 10 meters and I was not able to pick up my child.”At one point she wondered if it was possible to live like this.“In such a state one thinks that it is better not to live than to live like this.”She didn’t just stop throwing, but had to figure out if her body could ever return to the sport. Ravinder’s response was to start over, but according to her body.“My husband said we’ll start the game again. We’ll take it to her body as the muscles develop, the arthritis subsides.”It happened.Seema returned to competition in 2024. Her pre-maternity competition best was 48.08m. She went 57.19m in 2024, won the 2025 National Games and went beyond 59m this season.Seema’s return to the hurling ring was not something she could do alone.Ravinder was there as her coach, but he was also the person by her side during her pregnancy, the arthritis that followed, and the long process of preparing her body to compete again. Both were also working towards the same Olympic goal. It is difficult for Seema to separate these two roles.
Seema Kaliramna (Image Credit: Special Arrangement)
“When you have a goal, when you’re living a dream… we’re living the same dream, so there’s not much difference between us.”
Support behind Seem’s comeback
Their sporting setup was also supported by the Inspire Institute of Sport, which provided Seema with physiotherapy, massages, travel, accommodation and other support.“We don’t even have a government job, we don’t even have a private job, so from physiotherapy, to massages, travel, accommodation, everything is taken care of by IIS. I have full support from IIS,” Seema said.However, there has been some recent movement in this area. At a Haryana government program in Panchkula on August 26, Seema said she was approached for the post of junior coach.For now, however, the drive remains a priority. So is Rudra, even though he is not in the stadium.
Rudra will be watching from home again
Before CWG, Seema spoke about how difficult it was to leave her son. She won bronze in Glasgow and then talked about his mistake. Before leaving for the CWG, Seema knew what Rudra hoped to bring back – a medal; and she did.He won’t even go with her to the Asian Games.The medal will make its way back home, just like it did after the CWG. Seema hopes that one day Rudra will travel to competitions – and that she and Mona will go with him.
Seema Kaliramna and son Rudra (Image credit: Special Arrangement)
“He can’t come with me now, but we will force him (in a way raise him) to go out in the future and we will go with him.”Rudra will be watching from home again for now and Seema will return to the ring with a CWG bronze behind her, a personal best of 59.73m next to her name and an Asian Games medal somewhere in front of her.And she’s already thinking about it. After winning in Glasgow, her first reaction was not about the distance or the podium. Instead, it was, “We did it.”Now he wants the Asian Games to be the next step. “So after winning a medal at the Asian Games, we will take another step towards the Olympics.”