Indian athlete's mother didn't know she was at Asian Games until she won bronze

Seema Kumari travelled to Japan for the biggest competition of her career without telling her mother.

Then she won an Asian Games medal.

The 25 year old Indian runner claimed bronze in the women's 10,000m in Nagoya on Thursday, clocking 32:50.05.

But back home in Himachal Pradesh, her 78 year old mother did not even know her daughter had travelled to Japan.

Seema had deliberately kept the trip a secret because she did not want her mother to worry.

“My father is no more. I have my mother but she is quite old, around 78. Whenever I go out, she gets very tensed. So, I did not tell her that I am going to Japan for Asian Games,” Seema said.

Her mother has high blood pressure and Seema said she usually shares details about her travels only with her elder sister.

Before leaving for Nagoya, Seema informed her sister while her mother believed she was still in India.

“She might have known by now from my sister, they might be watching me on television,” Seema said after winning bronze.

The medal was special for India as well.

Seema became only the third Indian woman to win an Asian Games medal in the 10,000m and the first since 2010, when Preeja Sreedharan won gold and Kavita Raut took silver.

Seema, who comes from Reta village in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district, lost her father when she was 12 and spent part of her childhood running barefoot and herding cattle.

Her Asian Games journey is not over yet.

She will compete in the 5,000m on September 28 and has already set herself another target.

“I will try my best to change the colour of my medal,” she said.