Swapna Barman loses in state meet but stays on recovery path

KOLKATA: Star athlete Swapna Barman failed to make it count on her return after months as she finished behind Abha Khatua in the women’s javelin event on the second day of the 69th West Bengal State Athletics Championship at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Friday.
Swapna looked rustic and did not go all out in her run-ups as her coach Subhash Sarkar kept a close eye on the ward from behind.
“I did not expect anything. I just wanted to see how much she has recovered,” Sarkar said after the event. The coach was realistic since Swapna was back in action after four months. While she finished with her best throw of 42.36m, Abha clinched gold with an effort of 44.48m.
Sarkar is not pushing her for now but has his eyes fixed on Tokyo Olympics.
“Swapna will not be taking part in any competition this year,” said Sarkar, ruling her out of the national inter-state championship in Lucknow at the end of the month, which is a qualifier meet for the World championship in Doha later this year.
He wants to give Swapna the time to recover over the next few months.
“She has a Grade 3 meniscus tear. At present, she is stable. We are doing strengthening exercises and physiotherapy,” the SAI coach revealed, adding, “She will start competing from January next year.”
The qualification mark for the Tokyo Olympics is a stiff 6420 points, which will be decided on the basis of ranking points in international events from January to June, 2020. Although Swapna’s personal best has been 6026 so far, the Jalpaiguri girl is optimistic about making the cut.
“I will work hard for that,” she said.
The Asian Games gold medal winner took Friday’s defeat in her stride.
“Any sportsperson can lose. I am not sad for that. But what is important is that I felt perfectly okay after my throws,” she stated.