Guwahati: It was business as usual at this small tea stall that also serves lunch to the ones working around Jiadhol Chariali in Dhemaji until a phone call from Bhopal-filled proprietors Luhit Sonowal and his wife Budheswari Sonowal with such sense of pride and excitement that they announced free tea to their customers for the rest of the day.
What triggered the celebrations? Their youngest daughter, Panchami Sonowal, the current national record holder in youth women’s 49kg category, clinched a gold medal at the 4th Khelo India Youth Games in Bhopal.
Fresh from a successful campaign at the Junior and Youth Weightlifting National Championships where she pocketed a bronze and a gold medal respectively in the events in Tamil Nadu in January, Panchami, wanted to continue her dominance at the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG).
This was the 17-year-old Assamese lifter’s third attempt at the KIYG after failing to reap the desired results at the Guwahati and Pune editions. While she missed the 2022 edition of the Games held at Panchkula in Haryana because of her board exams, she still wishes to compete in the next year’s edition.
“My parents aren’t aware of my competitions. For them, if I win a medal, it’s an achievement, and even if I fail, they will keep supporting me. Quite understandably, as they aren’t related to the sport. But they have always focussed on providing us with the best support and care. When I called my mother after winning the gold, she turned emotional and passed on the call to my father as she couldn’t hold her tears anymore,” Panchami told EastMojo after her recent achievement.
Panchami is the youngest of three sisters, who were married off, and a brother Santosh (Sonowal), who earns his livelihood as an auto-rickshaw driver. Santosh has an 8-year-old son, whom Panchami aims to nurture as a sportsperson.
“Every time I’m home, my nephew takes a keen interest in my training. He is just 8 now, and I want him to be a sportsman, and make sure he learns to be independent and achieve a lot,” she said.
Later in the conversation, Panchami disclosed that the young boy was left by his mother a year back after a tiff with her husband (Santosh) and since then, she and the family have been taking care of the kid.
Early life
Panchami was inspired to take up the sport by a few of her friends and seniors, who would regularly spend their afternoons at the Batgharia Sports Club in Dhemaji. She was then 11 years old when she came across her first coach Dharmendra, who taught her the basics of weightlifting.
She soon appeared for the trials at the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Guwahati and made it to the junior camp in 2017 under Alakesh Bora. However, before she could complete her stint at the SAI centre, Covid-19 struck, halting sports across the globe. By the end of the first phase of lockdown, Panchami decided against returning to Guwahati and continued her training back at the Batgharia Club, where it all started.
Under the tutelage of Sivasagar’s Duljeet Baruah, young Panchami made rapid progress, and in 2022, she started reaping the benefits of all her hard work over the years. At the first phase of the Khelo India women’s weightlifting tournament held in Himachal Pradesh, Panchami returned with a silver medal.
It seemed Panchami took the second place finish with a pinch of salt, and after heading back to Dhemaji she doubled her effort at the training sessions. And quite clearly her dedication paid off once she travelled to Noida for the second phase of the Khelo India women’s weightlifting tournament.
Panchami not only clinched the 49kg Youth category gold medal but ensured she rewrote the record books in the process. Her overall hoist of 160kg, which included 68kg in Snatch and 92kg in Clean and Jerk, set a new national record in the Youth category.
At the Khelo India Youth Games in MP, Panchami’s overall 154kgs (65kg in Snatch and 89kg in C&J) was enough to pocket the gold, but she isn’t much satisfied with the effort.
“I knew I could go for more, but we were left with less than a month’s time for training, and probably that could have an impact. The competition is always with me, as I feel I have to better myself in each opportunity I get,” she said.
Panchami knows she is on the cusp of making it to the senior circuit and could very well be up against her idol and Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu, who also competes in the same weight division. The Assamese teenager is looking forward to interacting with the seasoned Manipuri lifter, although she has witnessed her lifts from close quarters when Mirabai lifted the gold in the Himachal event last year.
“Mira didi has been an inspiration, she has achieved so much after overcoming a lot of obstacles. I am yet to speak to her, but I have personally seen her lifts. There are a lot of things you can learn by just seeing her train and perform,” she said.
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For Panchami, the first goal at the senior level remains a podium finish at the Commonwealth Games. “The first target is to win Gold at the Commonwealth Games, as I prefer to take one step at a time.”
Hopefully, a gold at the CWG, where the level of competition is relatively lesser in comparison to the Asiad and the Olympics, will give her the wings to dream bigger.
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