Despite having a killing toothache, Swapna Barman won the gold medal in the Women's Heptathlon at the Asian Games 2018 in Indonesia on Wednesday. She recorded a personal best of 50.63m in javelin throw. The Heptathlon is a mixed of seven events -- 100m, High Jump, 200m, Shot Put, Javelin Throw, Long Jump, and 800m.
This is the first ever gold medal for India in Heptathlon at Asiad and she is only the fifth woman to cross 6000 points!
Even though Swapna had her jaw bandaged during the event, she earned the gold with a good 800m finish but a fantastic javelin throw outing, winning India’s fifth athletics gold in heptathlon. She smashed the 6000 point-ceiling to win the gold medal.
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The other Indian in the fray, Purnima Hembram, finished fourth. However, a poor rickshaw puller's daughter, the 21-year-old Swapna has managed to keep her strength high for the two-day long event where she had maintained her position among the medal contenders.
The joy of winning:
Fighting in the 800m summit event, Swapna finished with a timing of 2:21.13, earning 803 points, showcasing an excellent power to win the event.
In the first event on Tuesday morning, she had finished fifth with a total of 981 points in the 100m race. When the second event was over, she was already topping the chart, making the high jump which is her pet event. A painful toothache couldn't stop her from bagging the gold as she cleared a distance of 1.82m in her first attempt with consummate ease to seal her lead. She had needed two attempts to clear 1.70m. But after that, she sailed through, clearing 1.73m, 1.76m, 1.79m and 1.82m in her first attempt.
After two events of the heptathlon, Barman was in the overall lead.
In the shot put event, improving her personal best, Swapna gained 12.69 points to and lead the chart overall. However, in the last event on Tuesday, she finished just outside 26.00 and dropped to second place in overall standings with 3481 aggregate points while Purnima Hembram was third with 3424 in the 200m race.
Meanwhile, the long jump on Wednesday was crucial for Swapna as she recorded 5.82m in first jump. The second attempt went with an impressive 6.05m timing with the overall lead going into the javelin throw, which she consolidated with an incredible first throw of 50.63m – a personal best.
India now stands at the ninth position in the medal tally, thanks to Swapna. Four more days are left for Asiad to end.
Congratulations Swapna!
Image Credit: Sportstarlive
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