Harmilan: Love, hate and a dream
The bedtime stories Harmilan Kaur Bains was told as a child were seldom fairytales. When you are the daughter of two international athletes, it is not just good genes that you inherit. Stories of the parents’ sporting careers will also dominate conversation in the house.
Mother Madhuri Saxena, 800m silver medallist at the 2002 Asian Games, and father Amandeep Bains, 1,500m medallist at the South Asian Games couldn’t be faulted if they felt their young one would be excited to hear about their deeds on track.
Initially at least it only stoked defiance in Harmilan, the young girl rebelling against being pushed by over-enthusiastic parents to wake up before dawn to hit the track. Good in studies, any enthusiasm she had in athletics vanished after losing to a boy in a local race. Her mother threw a gentle challenge. Madhuri cajoled her daughter to run one more race, beat the boy and leave athletics as a winner. Next year, she won the race beating
the boy to whom she had lost. She no longer wanted to quit.
That first success made the seven-year-old fall in love with athletics. The journey hit a high this week after Harmilan, 23, announced herself as India’s latest middle-distance queen at the Open National athletics meet in Warangal, Telangana.
She broke the 19-year-old national record in 1,500m, set by Sunita Rani in the 2002 Busan Asian Games while winning gold with Harmilan’s mother fourth.
Her timing of 4:04.39 brought good cheer to Indian track and field post the Tokyo Olympics where javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s gold headlined India’s performances. Harmilan completed a double on Saturday by winning the 800m clocking 2:03.82. Sunita Rani’s national mark was 4:06.03, which is still the Asian Games record.
“The sprint which helped me beat that boy when I was only seven infused interest for running in me,” Harmilan says.
Her mother comes from Uttar Pradesh and father is from Punjab. But Harmilan, who has grappled with slow progress and injuries, went away to Dharamsala to train, which also helped escaped her parents interference in her training.
In 2019, she broke the university’s 1,500m record. A bronze at the 2016 Asian Junior Athletics Championships and double gold in the Khelo India University Games followed. Chasing the Olympics 1,500m qualification mark (4:04.20), she won the Federation Cup and Indian Grand Prix titles but failed crack 4:08.
The 1,500m is her favourite event. Harmilan has grown up hearing about the 2002 Asian Games. Her mother came only fourth (4:14.78), but won silver in the 800m (2:04.94).
The Warangal high is also consolation after she failed to achieve the qualifying mark for Tokyo Olympics despite a 800-1,500 double at the national inter-state meet in June.
Madhuri, who comes from Lucknow, could not realise her Olympic dream, narrowly failing to qualify for 2004 Athens. “I feel proud that my daughter is on the right track. For sure she will fulfill my dream of winning a medal at the Olympics.”
Harmilan is happy to chase her mother’s dream, but parental pressure still annoys her. “Their continuous instructions keep me under pressure, so this time I came to Warangal on my own,” Harmilan laughs. “My father chased me here too and was watching me run from the stands when I broke Sunita Rani’s record.”
Her next target is to win gold medal at the World University Games next year and then make a big entry into her first major competitions—the 2022 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. “Success at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games would help me achieve my biggest goal, to qualify for the Paris Olympics. My mom missed Olympics qualifying. I want to realise my mother’s dream.”
Harmilan has her sights set beyond athletics too. “I want to travel the world, it’s my biggest dream. I want to build my own house somewhere in the world, but only after finishing my sporting career on a high (with an Olympic medal).”