After emulating her mother, Harmilan wants to do one better

Hangzhou, Oct 2 (PTI) Mother and daughter winning medals in Asian Games is rare, but India’s metric mile national record holder Harmilan Bains has done that here, and she is now hoping to do one better.

The 25-year-old Harmilan clinched a silver in the women’s 1500m race on Sunday, the same colour of medal her mother Madhuri had won in the 800m race in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.

She clocked 4 minutes 12.74 seconds while the national record in her name is 4:05.39.

Bains is now gunning for a medal in the 800m, the same event as her mother’s. If she succeeds on Wednesday, she will go past her mother.

“I will say, mom, 800m is still there,” she said when asked what she will say to her mother after the 1500m silver medal.

“I will try my best for the 800m and will work on the soreness on my legs. I was pretty sure that I will win a medal (in 1500m) and was even confident of winning gold but had to be settled with a silver.”

Madhuri once ran a 1500m trial with Harmilan in her womb in order to keep her job with a public sector company in Punjab.

Harmilan’s father, Amandeep Bains, is also a South Asian Games medallist and a former men’s 1500m national champion.

Harmilan, who used to race with boys when she was young, won her first international medal in 2016 — a 1500m bronze at the Asian Junior Championships in Ho Chi-Minh in Vietnam.

She suffered a knee injury in 2017, which led to her missing some big events during her recovery, which lasted for over a year.

In 2019, she regained full fitness and won a 1500m bronze at the Federation Cup in Patiala.

She broke the 1500m national record at the National Open Championship in 2021 with a time of 4:05.39, bettering Sunita Rani’s previous mark of 4:06.03. However, a knee surgery meant that she was out of reckoning from the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“For nearly a year, I did not do anything. For four months, I was totally bed-ridden, then got multiple MRIs done. The doctors said it was water in the knee,” she said.

“Then at last, doctors said it was plica syndrome (pain and swelling in the middle of the knee) and the only option was to have a surgery. I underwent surgery again, six months on a bed again, rehab, and then again on the track, and now an Asian Games medallist.”