Sufna sheds 1.5kg overnight, cuts hair to avoid disqualification before bagging Kerala's first gold
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Kerala's first gold medal at the 38th National Games involved a great deal of struggle that resembled the Vinesh Phogat saga at the Paris Olympics.
Sufna Jasmin P S took gold in the Women's 45kg category. But she had a stressful couple of hours leading to her competition. The 22-year-old from Marottichal in Thrissur cut down more than 1.5kg overnight to avoid disqualification at the mandatory weigh-in at 9 am on Thursday. Sufna was placed on a strict diet, made to do exhaustive workouts; she even had to trim her hair to avoid disqualification. The weigh-in was held two hours before her competition.
"She was 1.5 kg over until yesterday and was 150 grams overweight in the morning. We had to cut her hair to make the weight," Sufna's coach, Chithra Chandramohan, told Onmanorama over the phone from Uttarakhand.
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As a result of the exhaustion, Sufna could not do her best. She did 72 kg in Snatch and managed 87 in Clean and Jerk to total 159 kg. It was sufficient to edge Dipali Gursale of Maharashtra, who took silver; Madhya Pradesh's Rani bagged bronze in the event.
"She has done 80-100 in the gym, but we did not want to push her. There was also good competition in the event," coach Chithra said. Sufna was a gold medallist at the Senior Nationals held in Himachal Pradesh last month. Sufna did 76-93 in the Nationals to set a record.
Sufna is doing her graduation from Christ College in Irinjalakuda. She has been training at the Kerala State Sports Council centre in Thrissur for the past five years. Had Sufna weighed more than 45 kg in the morning, she would have been disqualified. Wrestler Phogat had a painful exit before her gold medal bout in the Women's 50kg event in the Olympics. Sufna had scarcely eaten over the last two days. Shortly after the medal ceremony she sat down for a well-deserved meal. A plate of roti and some curry.