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Young weightlifter Martina aims high despite facing odds
She comes from a remote village of Manipur but follows in the footsteps of Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu
Young weightlifter Martina Devi was on cloud nine when Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded her eight new records at the 4th Khelo India Youth Games this June while addressing the nation in his ‘Mann Ki Baat” programme. But she didn’t know that even after all her achievements, no one from her home state Manipur won’t even recognise her success.
She kept her cool and continued to perform, establishing 10 new records at the 1st Khelo India Youth and Women National Ranking Tournament also in June at Himachal. This wasn’t all as she created two more new records at the 2nd Khelo India Ranking Tournament at Modi Nagar in November before establishing 12 new records in the recently concluded IWLF National championship at Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu.
“Even after establishing 39 new records in different categories in the domestic circuit in a year’s time, my achievements are yet to be recognized by the Manipur government,” said Martina, who broke into tears after being felicitated by the Sports Authority of India here in Lucknow on Friday. “Though all my medals belong to Manipur, no one from my own state has so far appreciated my efforts. Have I done something wrong in sport by winning medals for my state?”, she asked.
“I was a bit disappointed with the behaviour of the local authorities in Manipur. My parents consoled me and told me to stay focussed. They told me that a day will come when the world would chase me,” said Martina, who aims to win a medal for India at the Olympics.
“I am focussed on this year’s Asian Championships and the Commonwealth Championship. I know what success means to me even though I started doing weightlifting just for fun a few years ago.”
At the age of 16, Martina has 13 medals in her kitty, which include three silver medals at the Asian, Youth, and Junior Championship at Tashkent in +81 kg category last year. “I am thankful to PM sir, who appreciated my efforts, and also the SAI, which has been doing everything for me here in Lucknow,” said Martina, who has been an integral part of the SAI Lucknow since 2019.
Martina, whose father runs a shop in a remote village of Manipur, ventured into the sport only in 2016 after she came to know about ace women weightlifters from the state, including Kunjarani Devi, who won 11 international medals, including a gold at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.
“It was a pleasant surprise to me when Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu gifted me a pair of shoes during my training in Patiala, and they are the biggest gifts of my life so far. She (Mirabai) lauded my efforts, and even told me to keep working hard to attain success in life,” said Martina, adding, “That pair of shoes are like blessings to me from a great sportswoman and I am not going to sport them as they are an inspiration for me to become like Mirabai.”
SAI’s executive director, Sanjay Saraswat also praised Martina’s achievements in such a short period of time. “She (Martina) has been the star of SAI Lucknow and I am happy that centres’s weightlifters have been doing wonders at the national level,” he said, adding, “I am sure that many more lifters from this centre would achieve many successes this year.”
Only in 2022, SAI trainees in athletics, hockey, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling earned 41 internal medals and 101 medals at the national level, including 45 golds.
