Rolling with the punches: Soman Rana journey from national boxer to para shot put world medallist
With the Indian tricolour wrapped around his shoulder, Subedar Soman Rana beamed as he soaked in the moment at the JLN stadium.
On Saturday, he finally won the medal he had long been yearning for. With a Season’s Best throw of 14.69m, Rana won silver in the F57 category (for athletes who compete from a seated position due to limb deficiency) of the men’s shot put at the 2025 Para Athletics World Championships. It’s the 42-year-old’s first medal at the world level ever since he started his para athletics career in 2017.
“It’s a bronze. I’ll try to do better next time,” he says. He doesn’t even need to for before the evening is done, his medal is upgraded to a silver following the disqualification of a throw by a Brazilian athlete.
Long before he became the latest Indian to win a medal at the Para Athletics World Championships, Rana had another reputation – of having one of the most fearsome right hooks in Indian boxing.
In fact, some of Indian boxing’s most renowned names were his contemporaries. “I boxed with all the top boxers. (2008 Olympic middleweight boxing bronze medallist) Vijender Singh, (national coach) K. C. Kutappa were all boxing then. (2006 Commonwealth Games silver medallist) Som Bahadur Pun used to train alongside me,” says Rana.
About 10 years before he heaved an iron ball for the first time, Rana was one of the most promising pugilists in India. As a 22-year-old, Rana had competed in the 2005 Senior National Championships in the middleweight division for SSCB (Services Sports Control Board), one of Indian boxing’s most dominant domestic teams.
However, Rana didn’t return with a medal after a loss in the quarterfinals during that competition. He was only one round away from a medal though. “Would life have been different if I did win a medal? I don’t know,” he says.
Without a medal, Rana returned to his unit – the 2nd battalion of 8 Gorkha Rifles. Little did he know, his life was to change irrevocably. “I was doing my duty. There was a mission in Kashmir. My unit was doing a search mission when I stepped on a landmine. Just like that I lost my right leg and became a casualty,” he says.
After recuperating from his injury, Rana went to the Army Rehabilitation Centre in Pune, where he was fitted with a prosthetic leg. “All my life, I had played sports. When I was a young boy, I used to play volleyball. When I was in the Army, I became a national-level boxer. But now my sporting life was over. When I returned to my unit, I did administrative duty for 10 years,” he recalls.
Then in 2017, his life took a turn once again. “That year (in 2017), I was made aware that there was an Army Paralympic Node in Pune. It was founded by Col. Gaurav Dutta, who was very supportive of me. When I had to pick a sport, I decided to try shot put,” he says.
The choice, he says, was obvious. The force he once generated with his punches translated almost perfectly to a throwing event. And while he had not had any practice in his boxing gloves, his muscle memory was right where he had left off. “There’s not a lot of difference actually between throwing a right cross and throwing the shot put! I actually had a very sharp right hook, but my right cross also wasn’t bad. It was easy to get into the shot put,” he says.
In the years since he switched to throwing, Rana’s body has adapted. He’s now 105 kg, and far more powerfully built than he was when he had to make the 75kg weight limit as a 22-year-old.
He has had his share of impressive results. By 2019, he had competed in his first international competition for India. In 2021, he would compete at the Paralympics, where he finished fourth. He won a silver medal at the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou and then competed in a second Paralympics in Paris.
For Rana, though, what was most important was that he was getting to be on the sports field. “I was still playing sports, and I loved this. The fact that I had lost my right leg didn’t mean anything. Because we throw from a chair, someone with both legs also has no advantage over me. There’s no leg drive possible. All the power is generated with my upper body alone,” he says.
While he hadn’t medalled at any of the world events he had competed in, Rana says he was never disheartened. “Why would I feel upset? I saw the results as a motivation to do even better,” he says.
This year he had started finding some of his best form, beating Paris Paralympic bronze medallist Hokato Sema at the Para Athletics National Championships.
With a place on the podium in New Delhi, he’s got that elusive medal. And now he wants more. “I didn’t throw as well as I could have (his personal best is 15.01m). Next year, I want to play the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games and do well there. Hopefully I can compete at the Los Angeles Paralympics next time. I get a lot of motivation from what I’m doing. I wouldn’t be at this level if I wasn’t motivated enough. I’m still very motivated and happy I can still be a sportsperson,” he says.
Published on Oct 04, 2025