The daughter of a traffic police head constable in Meerut, Kiran Baliyan was an accidental shot putter as her name was entered in a junior tournament by mistake nine years ago.
On Friday, Baliyan became the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games medal in shot put in 72 years.
The 24-year-old Baliyan hurled the iron ball to a distance of 17.36m in her third attempt to open India's medal account on the opening day of athletics competition at the Hangzhou showpiece.
Baliyan thus became only the second Indian to win a medal in women's shot put in Asian Games after Barbara Webster, an Anglo-Indian from then Bombay, won a bronze in the inaugural edition in New Delhi in 1951.
"I am from Meerut. My father is a traffic police head constable there and my mother is just a homemaker. I have a brother and a small dog also and I love it very much," she said after winning the bronze.
"When I was young, I was not into any specific sport but playing many sports just like that. I even did javelin throw."
But something funny -- and momentous -- happened in 2014 when Baliyan was forced to take part in a shot put event in her hometown.
"In 2014, at a North Zone competition at DPS School in Meerut, my name was entered by mistake instead of another girl and I took part. There were just three girls and I finished third. I started my career from there," she said with a hearty laugh.
Her childhood coach was Robin Singh from Meerut, and she is currently training at NIS Patiala under Prabir Singh.
"It was not that I was interested in shot put from the beginning. I played many games and used to go to the stadium. That was in 2014," said Baliyan, whose initial training venue was Kailash Prakash Stadium in Meerut.
On Friday, she knew that her second round throw of 16.84m would be enough for her to win a bronze.
In fact, the fourth-place finisher Jian Chen-Xin of China had a best throw of 16.61m for the day.
Baliyan's compatriot Manpreet Kaur, who holds the national record of 18.06m, was fifth with a throw of 16.25m.
Baliyan said she knew she would win a medal after her second attempt.
"My medal was confirmed in the second throw. I am competing in front of a big crowd and it is the Asian Games, and so naturally, I was a bit nervous but there was no pressure regarding my performance," she said.
Baliyan's first national competition was in 2015 at the National U18 Championships in Ranchi where she finished sixth with a throw of 12.49m.
She then won the national U-20 Championships in 2018 with a throw of 15.23m. The same year, she won the South Asian U-20 Championships in Colombo.
She won gold in the Khelo India University Games in 2020. Her first senior national title was in the Federation Cup in Patiala in 2021 where she threw 16.45m.
Baliyan first crossed 17m as she won gold in the 2022 National Games in Gujarat with a throw of 17.14m. She took the gold again in the National Inter-State Championships in June this year, with 17.17m before coming with her season's and personal best of 17.92m at the Indian Grand Prix 5 in Chandigarh on September 10.
