Thought I will get the Arjuna: Chanu

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, september 25

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is a woman of few words. But getting the Rajiv Khel Ratna Award ahead of the Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli gets her talking.

Chanu was thrilled to know that she was the No. 1 pick of the selection committee, ahead of the Indian captain. “As per the programme, she was the first to take the award from the President,” quips coach Vijay Sharma, who got the Dronacharya Award.

Chanu got to know about the programme during the dress rehearsal on Monday. Asked about the dummy president, who deputised for President Ram Nath Kovind during the rehearsal, Chanu bursts out in laughter.

“Wo to nakli tha (he was a dummy),” she said. Another bout of laughter follows when she is probed if she knows how to put on a saree. “No, I had to seek help. I think this was the first time after Glasgow Commonwealth Games,” she said.

But she is thrilled on getting the Khel Ratna. “To be honest, I thought I will get the Arjuna Award,” says the 24-year-old, who had sent the application for both the Arjuna Award and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.

But life hasn’t changed a bit after she was announced as one of the two award winners. “My life did not change after the World Championships gold too. I got congratulated a lot but after 15 minutes it was back to business,” she adds.

Currently out injured, Chanu is taking small steps back to recovery under the watchful eyes of physiotherapist Heath Matthews at the Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai.

“I am well now. Previously I couldn’t bend down to tie my shoe laces. Now I am lifting small weights. But those were bad days, I would dread when I had to take a road trip. I would be in so much pain,” she recalls.