There is a saying that ‘No Pain, No Gain’ and India’s Swapna Barman on Wednesday proved that the motto promises greater value rewards for the price of hard work. The Heptathlon athlete overcame tooth pain crashed on the finishing line after gold medal confirmation at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang.
AFPSwapna topped the leaderboard with 6026 aggregate points to win the yellow metal. We look at her life history and the struggle she had to do to reach the goal.
Swapna hails from Ghospara village on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town in Bengal.
AFPAthletics was not the first sport she took up, the 21-year-old played football and kabaddi during her school years in Jalpaiguri.
Her mother works as a maid and plucked leaves from tea garden, while her father worked as a rickshaw puller before he was bedridden due to stroke seven years ago.
AFPBorn with an abnormal foot (six toes on each foot) Swapna battled her back injury ahead of Asian games.
The only earning member of the family she suffered from a painful tooth, but it was the determination to compete at the highest level that helped her compete across seven events over three days to finally win the medal.
