By Thamanna Sadique
First gold medal of Kerala at the 38th National Games did bring an ample number of significant challenges, reminded of the Vinesh Phogat experience during the Paris Olympics,2024.
Sufna Jasmin P S secured the gold in the Women’s 45 kg category, but the stress she had hours before her competition was intense. The 22-year-old from Marottichal in Thrissur had to cut around 1.5 kg overnight to meet the weigh-in requirements at 9 am on Thursday. She adhered to an extremely strict diet and engaged in rigorous workouts, at the end, she even resorting to cutting her hair to avoid disqualification. The weigh-in took place just two hours prior to her event.
Until the previous day, she was 1.5 kg over the limit and was still 150 grams overweight that morning. “We had to cut her hair to make the weight,” stated Sufna’s coach, Chithra Chandramohan, in a phone interview with Onmanorama from Uttarakhand. Due to the physical toll, Sufna was unable to perform at her peak. She recorded 72 kg in Snatch and 87 kg in Clean and Jerk, with a total of 159 kg, which was enough to surpass Maharashtra’s Dipali Gursale, who claimed silver, while Rani from Madhya Pradesh bagged bronze.
“She had done 80-100 kg in training, but we opted not to push her too hard, her competition was also quite strong,” Coach Chithra remarked. Sufna had previously won a gold medal at the Senior Nationals in Himachal Pradesh last month, where she set a record with lifts of 76-93 kg.
Currently pursuing her graduation at Christ College in Irinjalakuda, Sufna has been training at the Kerala State Sports Council center in Thrissur for the past five years. Had she exceeded 45 kg that morning, disqualification would have been inevitable. This situation parallels wrestler Phogat’s distressing exit before her gold medal match in the Women’s 50kg event at the Olympics. Sufna had barely consumed any food in the preceding two days, and shortly after the medal ceremony, she sat down for a well-deserved meal of roti and curry.