Swapna Barman is in the news again. The heptathlete made an unexpected comeback earlier this month, winning a gold at the Federation Cup athletics in Kozhikode.

The 2018 Asian Games gold medal had catapulted Swapna into the limelight but injuries pushed her to the shadows soon after.

“Life has been tough for me since the Asian Games gold,” agrees Swapna. “Multiple injuries pegged me back. My training was hampered and my fitness went down. I had my share of problems off the track too.”

The picture of Swapna celebrating with her Asian Games gold, her jaw in bandage, went viral — she was suffering from a gum infection and did her events under excruciating pain. The story of the girl with six toes who didn’t even have a pair of comfortable shoes to run captured people’s imagination. Adidas stepped in, flew her to Germany, and made her specially-designed shoes.

But from that high point, everything started going wrong for the Jalpaiguri girl.

She faced one injury after another. She did not make the Olympic cut. Her performance even in the domestic circuit came down to a trickle.

She was even accused of illegal possession of timber. “Mentally, I was in such a state that last year I was on the verge of announcing my retirement,” she says.

But that was not how her script had been written. Motivated and encouraged by her family and more by her coach Subhas Sarkar, she returned to training. From around last October, she has been practising at SAI, Calcutta. And the result? The Federation Cup gold.

“The gold has restored my faith in my abilities. Now I am all geared up for both the Asian and Commonwealth Games.”

She would naturally want to retain the Asian Games gold and win her first medal at the Commonwealth Games.

“But my primary target is to improve on my personal best. If I manage even one point more than my personal best, that would be my achievement.”

The 25-year-old goes on to talk about how ill-health dogs her at all her major tournaments, the Federation Cup being no exception.

Swapna suffered from severe food poisoning in Kozhikode — “maybe the food there, the curries etc, did not agree with me as my body now is acclimatised to only boiled food” — and alternated her events with throwing up and running to the toilet.

She collapsed in agony after completing the 800m, the last event of the heptathlon.

“I was exhausted, dehydrated but I have this stubborn streak which does not allow me to give up midway through my events. Close to collapsing, I carried on...and managed the gold!
“At this very moment as we speak,” she continued, “I am again on an injury-induced break…a minor one thankfully, which I picked up at practice. I’m taking a week’s break and considering it as one of the small breaks Sir gives us in between practice.”

The injuries worry her as does the fact that the shoes she got from Adidas won’t hold on for much longer.

And then it will be back to those painful regular shoes for her. She wishes she had a sponsor.

But despite all setbacks, one is encouraged to hear the optimism in her tone. And hope that Swapna will, once again, fly the Tricolour high.