COIMBATORE: At 58, Sheela Sreedharan still begins her mornings putting on her trainers and stepping onto the ground. A hammer throw athlete, she practises fine-tuning her heel-to-toe footwork, rotational throws, and maintaining rhythm and balance.
For most people her age, showing up every day for practice would have been a task in itself. Training, for her, has long transcended routine; it is an act of defiance.
Excelling in sports was what secured her a government job, and years later, after battling cancer, not once but thrice, it was sports that gave her life a purpose. Sheela, a senior employee of the SETC, has her sights set on winning a medal in hammer throw at the 2027 Asia Masters Athletics Championship.
A native of Tiruchy, Sheela’s foray into sports began when she was in Class 3. Although particularly drawn towards throwing sports, she has also won medals and trophies in shot put, discus throw, hammer throw, archery, and volleyball. Her achievements eventually landed her a job. When it finally seemed things were on the right track, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2013.
Before she could blink, hospital hallways replaced stadium tracks. Multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation therapy took a heavy toll on her body. She also suffered from hyperthyroidism. Around the same period, her marriage turned bitter, eventually leading to a divorce.
The years that followed further pushed her to the edge of her physical and mental limits. She was initially diagnosed with uterine cancer and years later with ovarian cancer. Despite the emotional strain, Sheela fought through each battle and recovered successfully. However, the hardest of the blows came in 2023 and 2024, the years when she lost her mother, followed by her brother and father.
Overcome by grief that was seemingly impossible to outrun, Sheela returned to the one place that never let her down — the ground. But getting back onto the field was far from easy, coming off years of treatment and radiation therapy that had weakened her health. Nevertheless, she began training again, determined to compete in tournaments.
The next obstacle was finding a coach who understood her limitations, as she felt that several young coaches could not tailor their training methods to suit her condition. Her search eventually brought her to Coimbatore. During a visit to the city for a tournament, she met R M Narayanan (66), a CM’s Award winner and para-athlete coach with expertise in training disabled athletes. Determined to continue her training under him, Sheela secured a transfer from Chennai to Coimbatore around two months ago.
“Over a decade had passed since I was first diagnosed with cancer, and I was diagnosed with the disease for the third time in 2025. Several physicians did not believe that I could return to sports,” Sheela told TNIE, expressing gratitude to the doctors at Lakeshore Hospital in Ernakulam, Kerala, who treated her.
“Even now, I suffer from severe health ailments. But I continue to move towards my goal, which is to win a medal and break the world record in hammer throw at the 2027 Asia Masters Athletic Championship,” she said.
Sheela also expressed gratitude to the SETC managing director for supporting her. She called for the resumption of the government scheme offering Rs 30,000 assistance to veteran athletes, which was discontinued in 2002. Besides, she urged the government to grant on-duty permission to government employees to practise and participate in tournaments and bear the entry fee and travel costs for national and international competitions.
More than the medals and records, Sheela’s journey so far has been about finding the courage to begin anew every single time when life throws a curveball at you, offering you every reason to give up. Things have really come full circle with her back on the ground training.