kudos to Golden girl Swapna Burman

A real golden day for India at Asian games . .. .. there would be some comments comparing the winner’s poverty-stricken background with the money paid to Cricketers  - at Southampton, Sam Curran and his 81 partnership with Mooen Ali lifted England from dumps to 246.  ¬ Cricket is not all IPL stuff .. .. in later 1970s remember a Buchibabu match at Marina when Gundappa Viswanath, Parthasarathi Sharma, Ashok Mankad, Kirmani, Dhiraj Parsana and others played at Marina grounds .. .. and the drinks was water in an aluminium kettle that had so many dents !  - gone are those days …. ..

Kamatapur is a historical and cultural region of South Asia, comprising present areas of Northeast India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The Koch Rajbanshi people of South Asia, particular Northeast India consider themselves as Kamatapuri, since the historical memory of the Kamatapur is still alive in their imagination and they continue to protect and preserve the Kamatapuri culture, language and art despite many challenges. In the mid of the 13th century Sandhya Rai established the Kamrup Kamata Kingdom comprising areas of present North Bengal, Lower Assam and some areas of present Bangladesh. Koches around the world are known by various names and styles which are synonyms to each other and means the same community.

The Koch Rajbongshi (Koch), also known as Rangpuri, Rajbanshi, Koch Rajbanshi, are an ethnic group inhabiting parts of Assam, northern West Bengal, and some pockets on the eastern parts of Nepal, Bihar, Bhutan and northern Bangladesh.  A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta(seven) and   áthlon, meaning "feat". A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete. There are two heptathlons – the women's heptathlon and the men's – composed of different events. The men's heptathlon is older and is held indoors, while the women's is held outdoors and was introduced in the 1980s, first appearing in the Olympics in 1984.  Women's heptathlon is the combined event for women contested in the athletics programme of the Olympics and at the IAAF World Championships. The women's outdoor heptathlon consists of : 100 metres hurdles; High jump; Shotput; 200 meters, long juml, Javelin throw & 800 metres.

                Barman, with a bandaged chin continued to compete in the heptathlon event with severe toothache and excruciating pain as she’d landed her chin on her knee during one of the events. Going into the last of the seven event discipline that happens over two days, the 800m run, Barman topped the standings. In her final event, the 21 year old strategized her run perfectly, to bag a whopping 6026 points, personal best score, in the end to become the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games heptathlon gold.  This is the first ever gold for India in the event at the Asiad. After Barman,  Wang Qingling of China scored 5954 to take silver while Japan's Yuki Yamasaki produced her personal best of 5873 to bag the bronze medal.

 All night, her jaw throbbed with pain. It was so excruciating that Swapna Barman considered pulling out on the final day of the Asian Games heptathlon, where she trailed Wang Qingling of China. The gum infection — too many chocolates, she said — made the task of 32 points seem a mighty ordeal. On Wednesday, the 21-year-old daughter of a rickshaw puller and a tea-picker won India’s first heptathlon gold in the Asian Games, working her way through the seven events spread out over two days.

Barman, with a bandage on her jaw and her now-famous 12 toes encased in special shoes, took on the pain and Qingling during the last three events of the heptathlon — long jump, javelin and 800m.

For the Rajbongshi girl from Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, winning has always been a journey through pain. Her feet with 12 fingers  would not fit into regular shoes, but she had to squash her toes in, the pain exacerbated when she landed after jumps. The family struggled to fund her sports training, until scouts spotted her and she picked up scholarships, including sponsorship from Rahul Dravid. Her father has been bedridden after suffering two strokes, and her mother works as a maid and a tea-picker. Barman herself has battled injures, chronic back pain, physiotherapy sessions, and the aching jaw in Jakarta.

Barman overtook Qingling after the javelin throw, the second event on Day 2, collecting 872 points to surge into the lead and take gold with 6026 aggregate points. Asked how she did it, she half-squealed, “I don’t know. I can’t tell you. I just trained and trained.”

Kudos to the Golden girl ¬ you have done us proud indeed

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

30^th Aug 2018.