CHENNAI: National record holder in 10 km running, Kavita Tungar has not had it easy. She hails from Sawarpada village near Nashik, Maharashtra.
“I had nobody to tell me if there was any scope in sports,” she says. She participated in races when she was younger just so she could get a chance to go to the bigger cities. In 1998, she went for a competition and came in second, and was soon selected for the nationals. “They spotted me and asked where I’d been trained, at a time when I didn’t know what the word training meant!” she laughs.
At the onset of her training, she moved to Nashik and became the national champion after three months. “This was when my coaches spoke to my parents about a career in sports and convinced them to let me take it forward,” she said.
Fondly called ‘Sawarpada Express’, she won the bronze medal in 10,000m race at Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in 2010 with a timing of 33:05:28. This was the first individual track medal by an Indian woman athlete at the Commonwealth Games. She also won the silver medal in 10,000m race at the Asian Games 2010. In 2011, she set up an academy in Nashik to train upcoming athletes.
She was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 2012, and this was the after 30 years that an athlete from Maharashtra was receiving this award. Her qualification for Rio came after she won the gold medal in the marathon event in Guwahati.
The list of merits to her name are endless, and we asked her what she thinks her biggest achievement was. “I’m married now, and the support I received after my marriage has been the best part. My husband works with the government and handles everything — including my training and travel. I stayed at my in-laws’ and did everything, not paying heed to what people told,” she smiles. Ask her what’s on her plate and she says, “I eat more of liquid food, and those that have proteins and carbohydrates.”
“I’ve seen a lot of ups and downs in my life,” Kavita says, as she remembers how she was injured during the Olympics in 2012. “I had my heart set and thought that I will not stop till I participate in the Olympics. Now, I only have the World Championship left,” she says, as she talks excitedly about qualifying and representing India at Los Angeles at the meet.
So what is it like being a woman in sports? “I hold talks in schools and colleges, and always say that women should come ahead and participate more. Women are not lesser than men in many field. We have a big example in front of us: both the medals at Rio were won by women. What more do we want?” she says.
The star runner has travelled across the globe for various tournaments, and we ask her what she misses most about India when she’s on the run. “I don’t travel for pleasure, it’s for competitions. So my focus is on the track and weather mostly,” she avers.