25-year-old weightlifter Harjinder Kaur from Mehas village of Nabha, who created history by winning a bronze medal in the 71 kg weight category at the Commonwealth Games, has faced lot of struggle so far. Harjinder Kaur’s family lives in a one-room house in the village. The income of the family is depended on agriculture. Her father and brother took loan to fulfil her dreams. Harjinder Kaur herself used to cut fodder for the buffaloes with a chaff cutter machine.
The weightlifter believes that due to cutting the bait on the machine, her arms became strong and today she has been able to bring laurels to the country by achieving success in the Commonwealth Games. On this occasion, there was a festive atmosphere at the weightlifter’s house in village Mehas. There was an influx of people who came to greet her family members. Everyone was dancing and singing to the beat of the drum and having sweets.
Harjinder Kaur’s first love was Kabaddi, the famous game of Punjab. After that she started playing tug of war and then weightlifting. Gradually, she became interested in this game and started achieving success on the strength of her strong arms.
Harjinder’s father Sahib Singh told The Daily Guardian that ever since the news of his daughter winning a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games was received, they all are on cloud nine. He spent all his life in poverty. Now he is glad that his daughter has erased all their sorrows and pains. Her father told with moist eyes that he used to stop Harjinder Kaur from cutting the fodder with the chaff cutter machine, but she used to say that she had to help him. Even when scolded, she did not agree. From the very beginning she was very attached to his father and brother. Her father said that his dream has come true.
Harjinder Kaur studied in Government Girls School in Nabha where she started playing Kabaddi. She used to go by bicycle till this school which was about five kilometers away from home. After this, when she started going to college in Anandpur Sahib, her coach Surinder Singh introduced her to the Kabaddi team of the college. A year later, she joined the sports wing of Punjabi University Patiala, where coach Paramjit Singh recognized her potential. Seeing Harjinder Kaur’s strong arms, the coach took her to the tug of war team. He inspired Harjinder Kaur to come forward in weightlifting.
Despite the poor financial condition of the family, father Sahib Singh and elder brother Pritpal Singh supported Harjinder Kaur to pursue weightlifting. They even had to take loans from their friends and relatives for Harjinder Kaur. They took a loan of Rs 50,000 from the village bank. Later Harjinder and his brother paid it back together. According to the family, during the Corona lockdown in 2020, Harjinder Kaur practiced for her game by staying at coach Paramjit Sharma’s house in Patiala. Harjinder Kaur’s love for the game has led her to this success.
Significantly, in 2017 Harjinder Kaur became the state weightlifting champion. After this she became All India Inter University Champion and also won Silver Medal in Senior National.