Swapna Barman (born 29 October 1996) is an Indian heptathlete. She won the gold medal at 2018 Asian Games and placed first in the Heptathlon at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships.[2] In August 2019, she was honoured with the Arjuna Award.[3] In 2022, she took gold medals in the high jump and the heptathlon at the National Games of India.
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | Indian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 29 October 1996[1] Ghosh Para, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Heptathlon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 6026 points (Jakarta 2018) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on 27 April 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career
editBarman was born in Ghospara village near Jalpaiguri, West Bengal in 1996 in a poor Rajbongshi family.[4] She is unusual in having six toes on each foot.[5] Her mother Basana worked on a tea estate and her father, Panchanan Barman, was a rickshaw driver and is bed-ridden after having suffered a stroke in 2013, making life tricky for his four children. She found it difficult to find the right food[2] and her unusual feet caused her pain because she could not afford extra wide running shoes.[5] Swapna uses her prize money to look after her family who live in a house without a concrete wall.[6] In 2016, she won a scholarship of ₹150,000 in recognition of the success she had at athletics.[5] She trains at the Sports Authority of India campus at Kolkata.
In 2016, she was supported by the GoSports Foundation through the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme.[5]
Barman won the gold at 2018 Asian Games, she accomplished this despite a jaw injury.[7] Barman collapsed during the final event of the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships – Women's heptathlon[2] which was the 800 metres where she was fourth. However Barman had broken many of her personal records[1] and she had gained enough points from the previous six events to take gold.[2]
In 2020, she lost out on funding but said that she would continue to train at her home in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.[8]
She took gold in the heptathlon at the 2021 Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships and in 2022 she competed at the National Games in the heptathlon. She gained an unexpected gold when she broke the high jump games record with a height of 1.83m. She was also in first place in the javelin and the 100m hurdles. She won the gold for the heptathlon and hinted that she would have scored even higher if she had a sponsor for some support staff.[9]
Achievements
edit| Year | Venue | Event | Points | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar | Heptathlon | 5942 | Gold |
| 2019 | Khalifa International Stadium, Doha | Heptathlon | 5993 | Silver |
Federation Cup
edit| Year | Venue | Event | Points | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | JLN Stadium, New Delhi | Heptathlon | 5897 | Gold |
Asian Games
edit| Year | Venue | Event | Points | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Incheon Asiad Main Stadium | Heptathlon | 5178 | 5th place |
| 2018 | Gelora Bung Karno Stadium | Heptathlon | 6026 | Gold |
| 2022 | Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Center Stadium | Heptathlon | 5708 | 4th place |
Rewards for winning the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games
edit- ₹10 lakh (US$12,000) from the Government of West Bengal.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b "IAAF: Swapna Barman | Profile". iaaf.org. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Could never afford nutritious food required by athlete, Asian gold-medallist Swapna Barman's father". The Indian Express. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ "Dream come true, says heptathlete Swapna Barman on being choosen [sic] for Arjuna Award". Yahoo! News. 28 August 2019. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^ Aishik Chnada (31 August 2018). "Mother and coach behind Swapna Barman's gold in Asian games". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Swapna Barman Receives GSI Sports Scholarship - Company CSR | Largest CSR News Network - Social Responsibilities Give Better World". Company CSR | Largest CSR News Network. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ Sarkar, Sujata (24 August 2017). "Swapna Barman on comeback wins gold, pledges for a job to run her ailing family". Oneindia. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ "Swapna Barman realises the dream of hometown Denguajhar". Sportstarlive. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
- ^ Cyriac, Biju Babu (14 August 2020). "Swapna Barman: Dope-tainted athlete in TOPS development list, but no place for Asian Games gold medallist Swapna Barman". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Swapna Barman wins double gold at National Games 2022". Khel Now. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- ^ PTI (30 August 2018). "West Bengal government announces cash award of Rs 10 lakh for Swapna Barman". Sportstar. Kolkata. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
