Manpreet Kaur redeems career with Asian Games bronze, puts doping taint behind her

Life has been one battle after another for Manpreet, but she took it in her stride to emerge as an Asian Games medalist in the winter of her career. The Haryana athlete became only the third Indian woman after Barbara Webster (1951) and Kiran Baliyan (2023) to win a medal in shot put at the Asian Games.

Her father passed away when she was just 12. “Losing my father at the age of 12 was tough for me. My mother has been paralysed since 2005,” Manpreet said.

A C-section delivery made it tough for her to return to competition.

“Since it was a C-section, the recovery took time. On return to training, the main problem was that I could not do weight training for a long time. But my father-in-law, Bhupinder Singh, would always encourage me. Earlier, I used to throw with the glide technique but then my husband suggested that I try the rotational technique as my height is less. As I regained my upper body strength, it worked well for me,“ Manpreet said.

Then came the dope ban. Manpreet blames it on contaminated supplements. “While contamination and other factors are there, an athlete cannot run from the responsibility. The ban was a tough phase for me but my mother-in-law Sukhwant Kaur would tell me to recite Sukhmani path (devotional recital) and it helped me mentally,” Manpreet said.

A young Manpreet grew up in Sahauli village, where her farming family was based. She started off as a sprinter. Her cousin Jagjeet Singh Randhawa is the one who inspired her to take up track and field.

“Manpreet started as a sprinter, and she was very explosive. After six months, she suffered a hairline foot fracture. My brother’s wife Dimi Singh, who is an international shot putter, asked Manpreet to switch events. Her first standing throw was very good and we decided to train her in shot put,” Randhawa, an Asian Grand Prix bronze medalist in discus throw, said.

Manpreet won her first national medal in 2006 at the junior nationals in Chennai, followed by a silver at the National Games in Guwahati in 2007. She also won a gold at the South Asian Junior Championships in Colombo.

Post 2014, Manpreet would cross the 17-metre mark and set the national record of 17.96 metres. She bettered the mark to 18.86 metres at the 2017 Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar. But following the doping ban, this mark was erased.

But the bronze at the Asian Games has given her a lease of life. “In recent months, I have benefited from training under Parveer Singh. We have worked on correcting my elbow position, apart from the starting step and centre foot placement, which has helped me in recent months,” Manpreet said.