Commonwealth Games 2026: Punjabs Harjinder Kaur clinches silver in women’s 69 kg weightlifting
She first played kabaddi, but her coach, Paramjit Sharma, noticed her physical strength and encouraged her to try tug of war and she later switched to weightlifting, a decision that changed her career.
PTC News Desk: Punjab's Harjinder Kaur, the daughter of a small farmer from Mehas village in Nabha, won a silver medal in the women's 69 kg weightlifting event at the 2026 Commonwealth Games on Tuesday. With this achievement, she added to the bronze medal she had won at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Just hours before her event, the 29-year-old spoke to her brother, Pritpal Singh, and confidently told him that she was well prepared.
Remembering their journey, Pritpal said there was a time when people criticised the family for allowing Harjinder to pursue sports, but they never paid attention to such comments.
“She told me she was fit and certain of winning either a gold or a silver medal,” recalled Pritpal. “Her confidence proved right as she returned home with a podium finish.” Harjinder was recently honoured with the prestigious Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award.
The family faced serious financial difficulties and paying for Harjinder's training, diet, and travel to competitions was always a challenge. Believing in her talent, her father, Sahib Singh, took loans so she could continue following her dream. Along with attending school, Harjinder also helped her father on the farm by cutting fodder with a chaff machine to feed the cattle. She often said that this hard physical work helped her develop the strength needed for weightlifting.
Pritpal said Harjinder started her sports journey in Class 11. She first played kabaddi, but her coach, Paramjit Sharma, noticed her physical strength and encouraged her to try tug of war and she later switched to weightlifting, a decision that changed her career.
The change was not easy. At one point, Harjinder thought about quitting because she worried that weightlifting would change her body shape.
Her father, Sahib Singh, said he and his wife encouraged her not to think that way and asked her to focus on building a successful future in the sport she loved.
Despite their financial hardships, the family always made sure that education remained an important priority.