Mat idols: Supermoms Anita Sheoran, Gursharanpreet Kaur complete Golden comeback
CHENNAI: Other than being mothers, these two wrestlers share no similarities. In their contrasting stories, Haryana’s Anita Sheoran (68kg) and Gursharanpreet Kaur (76kg) of Punjab added a common chapter on Saturday when they clinched gold medals in the Tata Motors senior national women’s wrestling championships in Jalandhar.
Anita defeated Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Divya Kakran in the final, while Gursharan beat Pooja. The triumphs helped them make it to the national squad for the South Asian Games (SAG) and rekindled their Olympic dream, which had been put on the back-burner for different reasons.
“Despite getting married in 2015, I continued wrestling. I missed an Olympic quota narrowly in 2012 and wanted to make it in 2016. But visa issues delayed my departure for the qualifiers. I had beaten a Kazakhstan wrestler in an invitational tournament in 63kg before the qualifier.
The late arrival meant I had to go for weigh-in directly from the airport. During that time, I had to lose weight also, which made me weak. I lost to the same Kazakh woman. She went on to win bronze in Rio. It was a big disappointment. Then in 2017, I had a son and decided to quit the sport,” the 35-year-old Anita told this daily.
Her husband Naveen Kumar, who is a swimming coach with the Haryana sports department, stepped in and urged Anita to get back to the mat in 2018. “He encouraged me to give it a last try and fulfil my Olympic dream. My in-laws take care of my son who is two and-a-half, when I am out practising or competing in events. Last year also, I won the 65kg gold in the nationals. I hope I can qualify for the Tokyo Games in one of the two remaining qualifiers,” said Anita, who works as an inspector in Haryana Police.
Life was not as kind on Gursharan. Her husband forced her to quit wrestling soon after marriage in 2013 and allegedly attempted to kill her along with a baby girl three years later. A sub-inspector with Punjab Police, Gursharan decided to leave him and filed a divorce petition. She was convinced to take up the sport again by her mother and brother in 2018.
Although Gursharan finished fifth in the nationals in her comeback year, she cracked the code this time. “It was not easy but this gold medal has given me hope to try and qualify for the Olympics. SAG is my first priority and after that I will start preparing for the qualifiers scheduled in March-April,” said the 35-year-old.
These women might have charted different routes in life, but their common goal has brought them on a similar path. With their dream still alive, the two can now follow that path to achieve glory at the Olympics.