NEW DELHI: SWAPNA Barman was the toast of the nation after she clinched heptathlon gold at the 2018 Asian Games. A lot of time has passed since those heady days, with the athlete enduring a quiet 2019 while having to deal with a back injury as well as a meniscus tear of the knee.
While the heptathlete is yet to regain full fitness, she has slowly started training and plans to start competing from 2020. “I’m not 100 per cent fit yet. I want to regain the level I was at prior to last year’s Asiad which was the best shape of my career. I have some time before I start competitive action,” she said at an event to launch the VRCT jacket by Adidas.
The Asian Championships gold medallist has started working on her shot put and javelin techniques and wants to make certain alterations in the technique to give her a chance to improve even further.
With the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) setting the Tokyo Olympics qualifying mark for the women’s heptathlon event at 6,420 aggregate points, an upgrade from the 6,200 points required to make the cut for the Rio Olympics, it will be hard for the 22-year-old to achieve the same.
“It will be difficult but not impossible. There is also the alternate way of making it via the world rankings. I’m not giving up hope. My plan is to participate in as many tournaments as possible starting next year — be it in India or abroad so that I pick up valuable rankings points.”
The athlete from Jalpaiguri has a personal best of 6,026 points and is currently ranked 27 in the world.
IAAF rules stipulate that an athlete can also qualify through world ranking at the end of the qualification period if all the slots of required number of competitors for an event are not filled up.
After the 2019 Asian Championships, there were talks between the Arjuna awardee and her coach Subhash Sarkar that she might go under the knife to remove the meniscus tear.
“Yes we had spoken about it. But since the condition is stable, we decided not to go ahead with the plan. Instead, the plan now is to continue with rehab as it will help me steer clear of injuries. The tear won’t heal fully but it will not hamper my performance.”
She is no longer a part of the TOP Scheme but she wants to work on her game instead of focussing on this aspect. “I don’t know why I’m no longer a part of it. But there is no point in thinking about all these now. My focus is on ensuring that I’m in the best possible shape ahead of 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” she said.