GANDHINAGAR: Soon after winning the high jump gold at the 60th National Open Athletics Championships, Warangal in September last year, heptathlete Swapna Barman, decided to call it quits. Nagging back injury was the prime reason for the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist arriving at the decision. She skipped her pet event heptathlon in Warangal and rushed back to her village in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.
For the next couple of months, she didn't meet anyone except her parents and stopped taking any calls. Given her state of mind, Swapna spent most of her time locked in her room. "Back injury was troubling me a lot. I was depressed and couldn't see any future for me in the sport. I was almost sure that I cannot continue like this and decided to retire," the 25-year-old heptathlete told this daily.
"I locked myself in the room. In those two months, I never went out of my home. I hardly attended phone calls. My parents tried to talk to me but they knew I was not in a good frame of mind," said Swapna, who won high jump and heptathlon gold here at the IIT Gandhinagar athletics track during the 2022 Gujarat National Games.
Sensing the situation, her long-time coach Subhas Sarkar stayed in touch with her over telephone and eventually managed to convince the athlete to give up the thought of retirement. "My coach said the heptathletes reach their prime between the age of 24 and 27. He asked me to hang around at least for a couple of years as this period turned out to be the best in my life. Then we consulted doctors about my injuries. I am happy he convinced me," she added.
Despite pocketing two gold for her adopted state, Madhya Pradesh, at the Games, Swapna is not satisfied with her show. "I could not produce the desired results in all the seven events. You can see that as I was far off from my best in every event. The target I set for the National Games could not be achieved and I hope I can do that during the Open Nationals in Bengaluru scheduled this month." She, however, said that winning two gold for Madhya Pradesh was the saving grace for her.
Swapna topped three events – 100m hurdles and high jump on the first day and javelin throw on Tuesday – and was second best in shot put and long jump to insure against her weak efforts in the 200m at the end of the opening day and 800m, the final event of the competition.
The 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist said she gave her all in the high jump and could not recover in time for her pet event. "I do not have sponsors so I cannot afford to hire a dedicated physiotherapist. Besides, I reached the hotel after the high jump event late at night and couldnot sleep properly. This also delayed my recovery. But you cannot blame anyone for that. I should have done adjustments. Anyway I am happy that I set a National Games record in high jump," she added. Kerala's Bobby Aloysius (1.82m) set the high jump record in 2001 in Ludhiana which Swapna broke with an effort of 1.83m.
Swapna has topped the 6000-point mark once, when she secured 6026 at the 2018 Asiad in Jakarta. She is confident that she can prime herself up to get the national record, pegged at 6211 points by JJ Shobha 18 years ago. “I know it is within my reach and I will try to get it,” she added.
For now, she is focussing on the Open Nationals but her primary goal at the moment is the Asian Games rescheduled for the next year. "I am ready for the challenge. It's good to have competition time and I strongly believe that I can win another Asiad medal for the country."
The new-found confidence also means that she is not hanging her customised shoes, which she needs as she has six toes on each foot, anytime soon.