Sampa Guha is a Sub-Inspector with the Kolkata Police force, who has achieved great things in the field of weightlifting and countless medals at the national and international level”.
Hardly any of us know about powerlifting and even lesser people know about the person I had the privilege of chatting up with. Sampa Guha is a Sub-Inspector with the Kolkata Police force, who has achieved great things in the field of weightlifting and countless medals at the national and international level. I have always been told that one should always accept his ignorance to save himself from making a complete mockery of oneself. And thus, I have no qualms in accepting that neither did I have any idea about powerlifting nor about Ms. Guha and interestingly enough, all of that was going to change.
At around 11 am, I reached the place where Ms. Guha practices or her gym. After walking for quite some time I reached the designated spot, namely ‘Gaja Math’. A young man with well developed and symmetrical body greeted us at the gate of the park. We got talking and he told me that he is one of Ms. Guha’s students and has been practising with her for 2 years. While interacting, we crossed an alley and entered a room which is similar to what one can call an urban ‘akhara’ with walls covered with patina and weights and dumbbells lying around. Ms. Guha greeted us with a warm smile. She quickly asked all of her students to do their daily running to have some quietness in the gym. I must tell you, I was thanking my stars that I was not one of those who was told to run about 2000 meters, from what I gathered, in that scorching heat but as they say—no pain, no gain.
Coming back to Ms. Guha, she began by stating as to how her incredible journey into the world of athletics and more specifically powerlifting began. Ms. Guha always had a knack for sports.
“I have always been fond of sports and especially outdoor sports, which are predominantly associated with males.”
While speaking about her childhood, she talked about how she and her sister loved playing cricket but the boys in the locality would not take them in their team. This crisis was solved by the old carrot and stick method. Guha’s father, agazetted officer at the GPO, bought her a bat and those boys were persuaded to include the two young girls in their team so that they could get the bats too.
One other memory she has of her life before joining the force is driving. She currently drives a Royal Enfield but her bond with bikes began much earlier in life. She recalls the people in Uttarpara guessing her presence at her home by checking if the bike was parked in front of it or not.
It was getting too hot for me inside the gym, stereotypical cityboy problem, thus I asked her if we could go out for a bit and maybe take a stroll through the alleyways surrounding the park. She happily complied.
Ms. Guha, a graduate in BA from Uttarpara Parimohan College, also has a physical education degree from Banipur. Her father has been a guiding force for her. According to her, her father took the initiative to enrol her in the academy of Subrata Debnath for athletics training. It is here that Mr. Subrata Debnath suggested her to take up weight training at Bali Physical Culture under the guidance of Mr. Ashoke Sengupta. The latter suggested Ms. Guha take up weightlifting professionally. She won a silver medal in the National Games, 1997, and she got the job with Kolkata Police as a constable due to her outstanding performance. She was one of the first recipients of “ Banglar Somman” award by the state government of West Bengal. She has also won several medals in the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
Since then Ms. Guha has won numerous accolades and medals all around the world. She also trains young athletes from her locality in her gym. The humbleness and composed outlook about her life remains one of the key reasons for her success and more importantly maintain the level of performance associated with competing at the international level.
The only regret that she has is the lack of infrastructure for athlete’s in India and hopes the current state and Central governments will take necessary steps to ensure that more and more Sampa Guhas are made.
“Ms. Guha has won numerous accolades and medals all around the world. She also trains young athletes from her locality in her gym”.
