Swapna Barman creates history by becoming first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold

Despite competing with a severe toothache, Swapna Barman from West Bengal clinched gold in the women’s heptathlon with 6026 points at the 18th Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta on August 29. With this, she created history by becoming the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold. Before Barman, only Bengal’s Soma Biswas and Karnataka’s JJ Shobha and Pramila Aiyappa had returned with a medal from the Asian Games. Soma 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.