Swapna, Arpinder strike gold, Dutee clinches second Asian Games medal

Swapna Barman became the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold while Arpinder Singh ended a 48-year long wait for triple jump victory after Dutee Chand blazed the track for her second silver on an action-packed day of athletics here today.

Barman, who has six toes in both her feet, battled sever tooth ache during her event and competed with a tape on her right cheek. Still, she produced her career-best performance by logging 6026 aggregate points from the seven events.

Before Barman, only Bengal's Soma Biswas and Karnataka's J J Shobha and Pramila Aiyappa had returned with a medal from the Asian Games. 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," Barman said with a smile.

Asked if she would like some company to manufacture customised shoes for her, she said, "Definitely. It will make life easy."