Fighting patriarchy, discus thrower Seema Antil Punia makes mark in sporting world ‎@Sports Gaon 

Discus thrower Seema Antil, 38, is the country’s only athlete to won medals in four successive Commonwealth Games. Her first Commonwealth Games was in 2006 Melbourne Games, where she won silver, followed by 2010 New Delhi CWG (bronze), 2014 Glasgow (silver) and 2018 Gold Coast (silver). Tokyo will be the fourth Olympics for Seema. She competed for the first time in the quadrennial games in 2004 Athens, then 2012 London, 2016 Rio and now 2021 Tokyo.

Hailing from a conservative society, Seema had to fight patriarchy to become a world-class athlete. Her native village is Khewda in Sonipat district of Haryana.

Seema joined sports in mid 90s and during that time the environment was not so conducive for the girls to pursue sports, especially in the rural belt from where she comes from. But her dedication and determination kept her going.

She has an international career over two decades and even today she is going strong. She won Asian Games gold medal in 2014, followed by a bronze in 2018 edition.

For the last couple of years, Seema has kept her training base in Russia.

Employed with Haryana Police as an inspector, Seema has always been at the receiving end of the state government. At every step, she had to fight for her rights and never hesitate on taking the state government, who has always ignored her credentials. Despite achievements in international arena, she had to file a case against the state government for ignoring her for a job of sub-inspector under the sports quota. After approaching the high court, she was recruited as a Sub-inspector in the state police force.

He has also filed a case against the state government for not giving her a post of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), where as many other players have got the job of DSPs with either same or lesser achievements.