Seema Kumari, an ace athlete from remote village of Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh has brought laurels for the state and the country by winning a bronze medal in 10000 meters women’s  race in Asian Games at Aichi -Nagoya, Japan.

Seema Kumari won the medal by clocking 32 minutes 50.05 seconds on Thursday ending India’s 16 years wait for a medal in women’s athletics event at the Asian Games.

Though Seema Kumari was maintaining lead in early minutes of the race but Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi won the gold medal with a time of 32:39.18, while Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka took silver in 32:41.54. Begging third place.

Seema Kumari, hailing from Reta village of Chamba district, with a humble family background started running early during her school days and later took admission at Sports Authority of India hostel, Dharamshala.

Overcoming her family hardships, she set national records at Junior National Athletic meet in 2000 meters and 3000 meters race and went on to win gold medal at the Qualifying Youth Asian Olympics Games in 2018 .

 Seema Kumari will also compete in the 5000 meters race at the Asian Games on Saturday.

 Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has congratulated Seema Kumari for her outstanding performance at the Asian Games -2026 by winning a bronze medal and earning pride for the country and the state.

 ( With inputs from PTI) 

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