Former Team India physio John Gloster to treat heptathlete Swapna Barman

Kolkata, Oct 7: Swapna Burman has been a popular name in Indian athletics. But in recent times, the heptathlete from the northern part of Bengal (Jalpaiguri) has been suffering from injuries.

Especially after she won gold in her discipline in the Asian Championship in Bhubaneswar in July this year, Swapna had to run with a lot of pain. Still, the 23-year old athlete had toured to London to participate in the World Championship in August in spite of the fact that she finished 26th in heptathlon!

But after returning from London in August, Swapna went straight to her home in Jalpaiguri for a complete rest. Following a month’s lay-off, Swapna’s back pain which has been obstructing her performance continuously for last three years turned severe.

Swapna after a discussion with her coach Subhas Sarkar had decided to go through a thorough treatment to cure her back pain.

On coming Monday the gold-medal winner in the Asian Championship will leave the city for Mumbai. As per an initiative from her sponsor Go Sports Foundation, renowned physiotherapist John Gloster will be looking into Swapna’s back pain.

Simultaneously, one of the country’s renowned spine-specialists, Dr Abhay Nane will also join Gloster in the treatment of Swapna’s back pain.

Gloster, who started his career as a physiotherapist with English country cricket team Surrey in the 90s, later joined Bangladesh national cricket team. Then he was appointed as the chief physiotherapist of Indian cricket team in 2005. It has been learnt that Sachin Tendulkar’s severe pain finally got cured under Gloster's watchful eyes.

Naturally, Subhas Sarkar is also hopeful that his student also will return with a positive result.

He said, “Swapna might have to be out of the track for next two or even three months. But I feel this time she will be cured fully before resuming training again.”

Sarkar wants his student gets medals in the Commonwealth Games next year.