Manju Bala is an Indian track and field athlete, who competes in the hammer throw. He secured the first position in the 2022 National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships, Chennai, in the hammer throw after which he was named in the 37-member Indian Athletics contingent for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He was also selected to represent India in the 2022 Asian Games.
Wiki/Biography
Manju Bala Swami was born on Saturday, July 1, 1989 (age 33 years; in 2022) in Chandgothi, Churu district, Rajasthan, India. His zodiac sign is Cancer. Inclined to sports since childhood, Manju played volleyball till class 9. One day, he went to school in Jaisinghsar near Bikaner, where he first saw an athlete throwing a metal ball with a chain attached to it. Manju immediately fell in love with the sport and started practicing after returning home. Later, he was spotted by coach Rajesh Poonia who trained him. After that, Manju won bronze in school level and gold in primary level. He placed 4th at the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Jakarta. In an interview, he recalled his father’s struggle in raising three athlete children and said,
Our father never stopped us from choosing sports. He would take loans from the villagers to help us continue the sport. He sent his brother Sandeep to train at NIS Patiala. When Munish chose to box, my father would ask the bus driver passing through the village to get gloves from Jalandhar. When I started, the hammer would cost Rs 800. He would work overtime at the tea stall to cover the cost. He would leave the house early and come back late.”
After her marriage, she moved to Ladunda, Surajgarh Tehsil, in Jhunjhunu District of Rajasthan. He was appointed as an Income Tax Inspector, an honorary appointment.
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′ 6″
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
His father, Vijay Singh, runs a tea stall on the Rajgarh-Pilani road in Chandgothi. Manju’s brother, Sandeep Kumar Swami, is deaf and mute. He won a gold medal in the javelin event at the national level for special athletes. Meanwhile, Manju’s younger sister, Munesh Bala Swami, is a boxer and police officer in Rajasthan.
Manju Bala with her father, Vijay Singh, at her tea stall in Chandgothi
Manju Bala’s brother, Sandeep Kumar Swami, and mother
Manju Bala with her brother, Munesh Bala Swami
Husband & Son
Her husband, Ramesh Mann, is a soldier in the Indian Army. Together, the couple has a daughter (born in 2016) whom family members call ‘Chinu’ and ‘China.’
Picture of Manju Bala with her husband, Ramesh Mann, and daughter
medal
gold
- Rajasthan State Championship 2021, Sri Ganganagar (64.88m)
- Senior National Interstate Athletics Championship 2022, Chennai (64.19)
- National Open Athletics Championship 2021, Warangal (64.42m)
Manju Bala (centre) at the 2021 National Open Athletics Championships, Warangal
- National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship 2021, Patiala (61.08m)
- National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship 2019, Lucknow (57.71)
- National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship 2014, Lucknow (62.74m)
- Federation Cup 2014, Patiala (62.15m)
- Railway Championship 2012, Jabalpur (59.77m)
- Indian National Games 2011, Ranchi (56.73m)
silver
- National Federation Cup 2022, Thenhipalam (64.01m)
Bronze
- 2014 Asian Games, Incheon (60.47m)
Manju Bala (right) at the 2014 Asian Games, Incheon
Facts/Trivia
- His bronze medal from the 2014 Asian Games, Incheon, was temporarily upgraded to silver after original gold winner Zhang Wenxiu failed a doping test. However, Zhang Wenxiu was handed back his gold medal when he successfully overturned his doping ban after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld his appeal, stating that his positive case was due to contaminated food.
- During the National Open Athletics Championship 2021, Warangal, Manju Bala broke the 19-year-old record of the meet. She set a record of 64.42m beating Hardeep Kaur’s 2002 record of 61.67m. Her throw of 64.42m was also recorded as the second best national record in women’s hammer throw after Sarita Romit Singh’s throw of 65.25m.
- After her marriage, she trained under her husband, Ramesh Mann. In an interview, she spoke about her supportive father-in-law and said,
My husband Ramesh Mann is a soldier in the Indian Army. Sometimes he trains with me at 4 am in our village Ladhundha in Jhunjhunu district. Sometimes, my mother-in-law also accompanies us. The villagers would wonder what we were doing, drawing circles on empty fields and throwing metal balls.”
- He is the recipient of the Maharana Pratap Award (2012-13) in the athletics category.
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
