Asian Games gold-medallist Swapna Barman to travel to Mumbai to recover from injury

Asian Games gold medallist Swapna Barman will travel to Mumbai for a check up on her troubled knee and strained back, reported PTI on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old battled cramped shoes and toothache to become India’s first-ever athlete to win a heptathlon event gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. She is suffering from a lower back problem and a grade three meniscus tear and will travel to Mumbai to find its cure.

“I will go to Mumbai around September 24 (after the Ganpati festival is over). There will be a series of tests to see whether I will have to go for a surgery or rehabilitation,” said Barman at a felicitation programme in Kolkata reported the news agency.

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Bearing the pain of cramped shoes as a reason of her having six fingers in both the feet, Swapna still managed to win the high jump, shot put and Javelin throw before finishing fourth in the 800m marathon, to record her personal best score of 6,026 and eventually win the gold.

“I want to be fully fit before taking the field again. I have suffered a lot as Asian Games gold was my target but now since I have time I have to heal my recurring injury. Otherwise, it can get worse,” she said.

While the fans expect to see her at the Tokyo Olympics, Swapna’s coach Subhas Sarkar, however, has other priorities.

“Our aim is to win successive Asian Games gold which has not happened before. As far as Olympics is concerned, the qualification mark is 6200 points. She needs to achieve that first,” Sarkar said.

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