CHENNAI: "DR. SEEMA Kaliramna," it reads on top of her Instagram profile. It is in fact, her identity on that platform. The discus thrower, who hails from Dinod in Bhiwani district, Haryana has been living three lives – one as an athlete, one as a doctoral student and as a mother.
The thrower has been working on a thesis as part of Doctorate of Philosophy, which she began in 2022. Her thesis involves studying the impact of imagery and self-talk on an athlete's performance. "I am working on how an athlete thinks about their game. Many times, an athlete gets demotivated and starts thinking negatively. That, I believe, needs to be researched. How much does an athlete think positively about themselves and their game? How much do they imagine? How imagery enhances their performance or helps with results," Seema told this daily from Spala, Poland, days before the Commonwealth Games. Her event, the women's discus throw will take place at the Scotstoun Stadium on Thursday, July 30.
The process to collect data for her research will happen at a later stage for obvious reasons. "I will do that after I finish the events for this year," she added.
Apart from chasing a PhD, Seema is also a mother. In 2022, she gave birth to a baby boy named Rudra. Balancing all three may not appear easy. But she said that has made her a better person. She also credited her coach and husband Ravinder Kaliramna, a former national-level discus thrower. "My husband is a coach, which is a plus point for me. We both manage my studies and sport. When we have time, we talk about studies. We focus on sports all the time. We take care of our son. The more difficult tests you face, the better you become," she said.
Indeed. After her child's birth, the thrower had to sit out for two seasons, making her return only in the year 2024. From having a personal best of 45.70m before childbirth in 2021, that mark surged to an encouraging 57.19m — her season best throw in 2024.
However, this was only a small step towards her goal to take part in the Olympics. The 2025 season for Seema saw her results plateau around the 57-metre mark. A lot of work had to be done in the off-season for the athlete supported by JSW's Inspire Institute of Sport. She worked more on her physical condition. "We worked on our overall physical condition. But that does not mean that we improved our technique and throw. But the priority remained on overall body strength and endurance. We will try to do our best both in the Commonwealth and Asian Games."
And all of that paid off as Seema threw a personal best mark of 59.73m to take home gold at the recently-concluded National Inter-State meet in Bhubaneswar.
Coach Ravinder also touched upon the off-season work. "We worked on her speed. We don't want Seema to peak right now. If she peaks, then it will be difficult to maintain. There are two months left for the Asian Games, the event we are prioritising more on," he said.
While all the preparations intensify, Seema's Olympic dream, manifested through her social media profile, is still alive. This year is all about establishing the path via two big-ticket events