Sanjoo Thangjam

From the lanes and neighbourhoods of Imphal to the international fitness arena, Supriya Rodrigues, born Supriya Haobam, is taking a childhood love for sport to the world stage. In June 2027, Supriya will compete at the HYROX World Championships in Hong Kong after securing qualification through a remarkable performance at HYROX Mumbai 2026, where she won gold in the Pro Women’s Doubles category.

For Supriya, the achievement is not simply about a medal or a qualification. It is the latest chapter in a sporting journey that began decades ago in Imphal, long before she ever imagined competing on an international stage. Born to Dr. Haobam Devendra Singh and Smt. Haobam Ongbi Khomdram Sushila Devi, Supriya grew up in Uripok Haobam Dewan Leikai in the 1970s. At that time, sporting opportunities were far more limited, and for many families, education and a secure professional career naturally took priority.

Yet sport remained an important part of Supriya’s childhood. As a young girl, she loved being active and played whatever games were available to her. There were no grand plans of becoming an international athlete. There was simply the joy of movement, competition and participation.

That early passion eventually gave way to a different professional path. Supriya studied architecture and went on to build a career in the field. Life moved forward, but the connection with sport never disappeared completely. The active child from Imphal remained somewhere within her, waiting for an opportunity to return.

Years later, that opportunity came in an unexpected form. HYROX, a global fitness competition combining running with functional fitness exercises, provided Supriya with a new way to challenge herself. She entered her first Women’s Doubles race in 2024.

What began as a new experience soon became a serious competitive pursuit. HYROX demands considerably more than conventional running or strength training. Competitors must complete eight one-kilometre runs, with each run followed by a functional fitness station. The combination tests cardiovascular endurance, strength, muscular endurance, pacing and mental resilience.

For Supriya, taking on the sport meant committing herself to a demanding training routine and learning the physical and mental requirements of competitive fitness.

The progress was steady.

At HYROX Mumbai 2025, she finished second in the Women’s Open Solo category. She followed that achievement with another second-place finish in the Women’s Open Doubles category at HYROX Singapore Expo 2025.

Then came the breakthrough she had been working towards.

At HYROX Mumbai 2026, Supriya claimed gold in the Pro Women’s Doubles category. The victory secured her qualification for the HYROX World Championships in Hong Kong in June 2027.

The qualification has given a new dimension to a sporting journey that has taken several unexpected turns.

Before becoming a competitive fitness athlete, Supriya built a career in architecture. She later took a sabbatical from the profession and became a yoga teacher, developing a deeper understanding of movement, flexibility, balance and body awareness.

Those experiences have now become valuable elements of her preparation for HYROX.

The sport requires athletes to combine different physical abilities. Running must be balanced with strength exercises, and competitors have to manage their energy while moving from one demanding station to another. The ability to maintain form and concentration under fatigue can be just as important as physical strength.

Supriya’s background in yoga has added another dimension to that preparation, while her earlier sporting interests have given her a lifelong familiarity with physical activity.

But perhaps the most striking aspect of her story is the amount of time between the beginning and the latest chapter of her sporting journey.

There was no world championship ambition when the young Supriya was growing up in Imphal. There were only childhood games, an enjoyment of being active and a natural love for sport. Life subsequently took her into architecture. Later came yoga. Then, decades after those childhood days, HYROX gave her an opportunity to return to competitive sport.

She took it with determination.

Her results in 2025 showed that she could compete at a high level. Her victory in Mumbai in 2026 demonstrated that she could go a step further and qualify for the sport’s world championship. The journey also serves as a reminder that sporting dreams do not necessarily have to follow a conventional timeline.

For some athletes, the path begins in childhood and continues without interruption. For others, circumstances lead them elsewhere before sport returns to their lives later.

Supriya’s story belongs to the latter.

Her journey from Imphal to the HYROX World Championships is therefore not simply a story about fitness. It is also a story about rediscovering something that had always been a part of her.

The young girl who once played games around Imphal may not have known where her love for sport would eventually lead. Architecture became her profession, yoga became another important chapter of her life, and competitive fitness eventually brought her back to the sporting arena.

Now, she has a world championship to prepare for.

The months ahead will involve continued training, conditioning and preparation for the demands of competing against athletes from around the world. The Hong Kong championship will provide the biggest international test yet in a competitive journey that began only a few years ago.

Whatever the result there, Supriya has already completed an extraordinary circle—from childhood sport in Imphal, through a professional career and years away from competitive athletics, back to the sporting arena and ultimately onto the world stage.

Her story is a reminder that a passion can remain quietly present even when life takes a person in a completely different direction.

Sometimes, dreams are not abandoned.

They simply wait.

And for Supriya Rodrigues, a childhood love for sport has found its way back into her life at a time when the destination is no longer just a playing field in Imphal, but the HYROX World Championships in Hong Kong.

The writer is a journalist based in Imphal, Manipur.