Bengal’s loss is Goa’s gain as Shubham adds to state tally with yogasana gold

Panaji: Shubham Debnath retained his traditional yogasana gold medal to add to Goa’s tally at the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old registered 61.58 in the final performance to secure Goa’s third gold after Akanksha Salunkhe (squash) and Bhuvaneshwari Jadhav (kalarippayattu). His nearest opponents could score 61.33 and 61.17 as other athletes registered a protest. However, Shubham was awarded the gold.
“I had told myself that I won't be happy with one gold. After the semifinals, I knew what I had to do. My performance and preparation was excellent in the last 15 days,” said Shubham, also a gold medal winner in the same category at the National Games in Goa.
Shubham represented Bengal at the 36th National Games in Gujarat and was offered a chance to move to Goa, an offer he accepted without batting an eyelid.
“Winning is easy but repeating the win is challenging and one must keep improving. No one remembers who won silver and bronze medals. When I train and take part in the competition, I just see gold, anything less is not acceptable,” he said.
The athlete said Goa did its best to keep him in shape ahead of the National Games. “Goa has been kind to me, providing me with everything. Diet, training, massage, hot-water spa, everything was provided. I hope to make Goa my home and keep winning medals,” said Shubham.
His gold-medal winning performance will provide a big boost to the sport, said Yogasana Sports Association Goa general secretary Sandesh Barazankar.
“We were absolutely sure that he would get us gold. Yogasana will get a great boost in Goa. We have won 20 medals at various national level tours. With this result, school kids and others will look at Shubham's example and take up the sport,” said Barazankar.