Poonam Khatri is an Indian

Wushu Wushu may refer to: Martial arts * Chinese martial arts, the various martial arts of China * Wushu (sport), a modern exhibition of traditional Chinese martial arts * Wushu stances, five key stances utilized in both contemporary wushu and traditio ...

player, martial artist and athlete. She won a gold medal in invitational sports of

at the 13th

South Asian Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic C ...

at Lalitpur in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

, in Women's Sanda 75 kg. Khatri won the gold medal at the 2019 World Wushu Championships in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in the Women's Sanda 75 kg category.

Early life

She was born in Soldha village of

Jhajjar district Jhajjar district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in northern India. Carved out of Rohtak district on 15 July 1997 and with its headquarters in Jhajjar, it lies from Delhi and had developed into an important industrial center. Othe ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

, India. She took to sports in her childhood. In an interview with

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

Sportstar ''Sportstar'' is an Indian monthly Sports magazine, sports magazine published in India by the publishers of ''The Hindu''. Its headquarters is in Chennai. History and profile ''Sportstar'' was established in 1978. The magazine covers interna ...

magazine, Khatri said, "As a school kid, I used to play

Kabaddi Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...

and

Kho Kho Kho kho or kho-kho is a traditional Indian sport that dates back to ancient India. It is the second most popular traditional tag game in the Indian subcontinent after kabaddi. Kho kho is played on a rectangular court with a central lane connec ...

." Poonam began practicing the martial art

when she was 15 years old. In 2008, she received a job through sports quota in the

Sashastra Seema Bal Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB; ) is a border guarding force of India deployed along its borders with Nepal and Bhutan. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The fo ...

, one of the

Central Armed Police Forces Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) is the collective name of central police organisations in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). These are technically paramilitary forces formerly known as Central Para-Military Forces (CPMF). Since ...

in India, where she is currently posted as an Assistant sub-inspector of police.

Career

In 2003, Khatri became national champion in

for the first time and subsequently in 2004 she made her international debut at the 6th Asian Wushu Championship in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, where she won a bronze medal for India. She won the silver medal at the 15th edition of

World Wushu Championships The World Wushu Championships (WWC) is an international sports championship hosted by the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) for the sports of wushu taolu and sanda (sanshou). It has been held biennially since 1991 and is the pinnacle event ...

(WWC) 2019 held at Minhang Gymnasium in

, but later it was upgraded to Gold Medal when

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Maryam Hashemi Maryam Hashemi (Persian: مریم هاشمی) (born 1977) is an Iranian visual artist based at Hackney Wick in East London. Often working in pencil, watercolour or acrylic paint. Biography Hashemi grew up in Tehran. She graduated from Islamic ...

failed her dope test. At the 2019 South Asian Games in Nepal, Khatri won a gold medal in the Wushu - 75 kg category. In November 2019, she was facilitated by

Kiren Rijiju Kiren Rijiju (born 19 November 1971) is an Indian politician from Arunachal Pradesh who serves as the Cabinet Minister of Law and Justice in the Government of India. Early life Rijiju was born on 19 November 1971 at Nakhu near Nafra in West K ...

, the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports with a cash prize of for winning a medal at

. In August 2013, she won a gold medal in the Women's Boxing at the 2013

World Police and Fire Games The World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) is a biennial athletic event, open to active and retired law enforcement and fire service personnel throughout the world. The WPFG Federation is an arm of the California Police Athletic Federation (CPAF), ...

, held in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. She is a 10-time National Champion and has also won medals at all-India police boxing tournaments.

Personal life

Poonam is married to Manjeet Khatri, who works in the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. The couple has a baby girl named Paridhi.

References

Indian sanshou practitioners Indian female martial artists Indian women boxers South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in wushu Living people Indian police officers Sportswomen from Haryana Martial artists from Haryana 1986 births Indian wushu practitioners {{India-martialart-bio-stub