Need customised shoes for my 6 toes: Gold medallist Swapna Barman
JAKARTA: The first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold, Swapna Barman on Wednesday made a plea to provide her more customised shoes for her 'abnormal' feet.
Barman, who has six toes in both her feet, produced her career-best performance by logging 6026 aggregate points from the seven events spread for two days. She competed with a tape on her right cheek to lessen pain arising out of teeth infection.
Before Barman, only Bengal's Soma Biswas and Karnataka's JJ Shobha and Pramila Aiyappa had returned with a medal from the Asian Games but none of them have won a gold.
Biswas and Shobha had finished two-three at both Busan Asian Games (2002) and the Doha Games (2006), while Pramila had won a bronze at the 2010 Guangzhou edition.
"I have got this gold on the National Sports day, so it's really special. I use normal shoes worn by people who have normal five toes. It really pains during training. It is very uncomfortable, whether I wear spikes or normal shoes," Swapna said with a smile. She said she also overcame a knee injury before the event.
Asked if she would like some companies to manufacture customised shoes for her, she said, "Definitely. It will make life easy." At one time, Barman's father was a rickshaw puller and bed-ridden due to a stroke suffered.
En route the title, she won the high jump (1003 points) and javelin throw (872 points) events and finished second-best in shot put (707 points) and long jump (865 points).
Her weakest events were 100m (981 points, 5th position) and 200m in which she finished seventh with 790 points. Going into the 800m run, the last of the seven-event competition, Barman was leading China's Qingling Wang by 64 points.
She needed a good run in the concluding event in which she eventually finished fourth. It was the same event in which she had collapsed during the Asian Athletics Championship last year in Bhubaneswar but despite finishing fourth today, she had emerged a champion.
Asked about the tape on her cheek she said, it was to lessen the pain in her teeth.
"I used to eat a lot of chocolates, so I have a teeth problem. It started paining two days before the event. It was severe but I could not let years of hard work go waste. So I forgot the pain and gave my best," said the undergraduate, who is fearing for final examination result.
"First day, I thought I won't be able to compete. It was unbearable. I thought what will happen to my hard work, I had to do it. I forgot the pain."
Another Indian in the fray, Purnima Hembram was 18 points behind Japan's Yuki Yamasaki going into the 800m run. She finished just ahead of Barman in the 800m run and overall fourth with 5837 points.
Qingling (5954) won the silver and Yamasaki the bronze with 5873 points. Swapna's mother awaits daugher's golden homecoming
Indian heptathlete Swapna Barman's mother will finally get to see her daughter after her historic gold medal winning feat at the Asian Games.
"Medal na jitle bari firbo na (won't return home, unless I win a medal)," Swapna had told her mother Basana Devi when she visited her family at Ghospara village, on the outskirts of Jalapaiguri town in North Bengal.
Belonging to Rajbbongshi tribe in North Bengal, Swapna's mother would work as a maid and also pluck leaves in tea gardens, while her father Panchanan Barman pulled van rickshaw till he got bedridden following a stroke seven years ago.
Born with six toes on each foot, Swapna is stubborn from childhood, said secretary of Jalpaiguri District Athletics Association Ujjal Das Chowdhury, who has followed Swapna's career from close quarters.
"If someone discourages her to do something, then Swapna will stick to it till she proves the person wrong," Das Chowdhury said.
Battling a back injury that requires her to take an injection under Dr Anant Joshi in Mumbai every month, Swapna had last visited her home after her Asian Athletics win in Bhubaneswar last year.
courtesy : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses EC of ‘bias’, defends state guarantee schemes ahead of bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused the EC of "double standards" and "bias" after it sought details on the state’s guarantee schemes in Davanagere and Bagalkot districts, where bypolls are scheduled for Thursday.
In a post on 'X' on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said the Election Commission of India had asked the Karnataka government for information on fund releases under five ongoing guarantee schemes in the constituencies going to polls.
The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, respectively.
The schemes are Gruha Jyothi, which provides 200 units of free electricity to every household; Gruha Lakshmi, offering Rs 2,000 to women heading families; and Anna Bhagya, supplying 10 kg of rice per month to each member of BPL families.
In addition, Yuva Nidhi grants Rs 3,000 to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders aged 18–25 for two years, while Shakti enables women to travel free of charge within Karnataka on government non-luxury buses.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the ECI had remained silent when similar cash transfer schemes were announced in Maharashtra and Bihar ahead of elections, calling the scrutiny of Karnataka’s schemes a "clear case of bias".
"In states like Maharashtra and Bihar, cash transfer schemes were announced or fast-tracked just before elections, directly benefiting voters. Yet the ECI remained silent. This is not neutrality—it is complicity," he said.
The CM accused the BJP and NDA governments of "a double standard", noting that when they act, the ECI "looks the other way", but when Karnataka fulfils its promises, it faces "intense scrutiny".
He added that targeting the state’s guarantee schemes is "not just political but anti-poor, anti-women, and anti-Karnataka."
Siddaramaiah clarified that these schemes were not launched in connection with the bypolls but are ongoing programmes implemented as part of the Congress government’s commitments from the 2023 Assembly elections.
Funds are transferred regularly to beneficiaries in a transparent and structured manner, he added.
"The guarantees are part of governance—a direct investment in human dignity, household stability, and economic participation, not inducement," he said.
He also accused the BJP of "hypocrisy", saying that while it criticises Karnataka’s schemes as "freebies", it rolls out similar programmes in states it governs.
"The Karnataka model has set a benchmark for the country. What is deeply concerning, however, is the ECI’s selective approach," Siddaramaiah added.
