Asian gold medalist Swapna Barman accorded red carpet welcome at Kolkata airport

The 21-year-old girl from remote Jalpaiguri district of north Bengal has become the first Indian athlete to have won top honours of rigorous event of heptathlon in Asian Games at Jakarta, Indonesia, concluded recently.

The women's outdoor heptathlon consists of the seven events, with the first four contested on the first day, and the remaining three on day two: They are 100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters race, long jump, javelin throw and lastly 800 mts race.

She said after the completion of six events she was told by her coach to stick to order to keep a winning distance over her nearest rivals a Chinese athletics.

She said she would continue to pursue heptathlon event because she was not expert on any particular event.

She said her achievement was a follow up of what her sir says and a believe of her will power.

Dedicating her yellow medal to all and everyone, the student of a Kolkata college said she will undergo a fitness regime for next 3/4 months to heal up her injuries before starting her practices  for next World Cup championship and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

After striking Gold medal Swapna Barman had said she was carrying injuries. "I was not fully fit. My knee was still hurting. It was a huge challenge for me. One after another event. 7 different events in Heptathlon over 3 days was very very tough. But I had to prove myself. The more it was hurting the more I gained strength. Rest is now history."

She now aims for next year's World championship. "I now plan to get over 6,200 points in the world championship that can give me a medal. But the ultimate aim is an Olympic medal which is a realistic possibility. That no longer is a distant dream."