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Still On the Toes
She could have gained complacency. She could have gained a little amount of arrogance also. After all, she has set a mark to have won silver in the recently held Commonwealth Games in Birmingham being the first Indian race-walker. But Priyanka Goswami seems not to have gained any that kind of vices even after achieving historic silver at Birmingham. While talking over the phone from Bangalore, the 26-year-old race-walker seemed firm with her focus. She commented,
“Well, I am feeling happy surely. But my life has not changed. I have a long way to go. I have Asian Games, World Championship, and finally Paris Olympics in 2024. So there is no question of being complacent.”
Lord Krishna and Meditation
Priyanka must be relishing her failure in all other sports events during her school days at Muzaffarnagar. Priyanka used to come last in gymnastics, then failed also in athletics, and finally following advice from one of her well-wishers she had chosen walking. During school days her target was to get a school bag that was given as a prize to the first-placed athletes. After having settled in race walking, Priyanka did hard training, walking down the highway side almost throughout the year, even in the rainy season when race walking becomes risky due to oozy roadsides. Even Priyanka was not able to afford quality shoes and required food during that time as she had come out of a financially poor family. Still, her mental strength and passion did not get affected.
But during the Covid-19 and lockdown period, Priyanka became highly depressed as she could not go outside and practice. Her mother gifted her a small statue of ‘Lord Krishna’ at that time and this statue has been her permanent companion. She said,
“This statue of Lord Krishna helps me to do meditation. Every morning, before going to train I worship Lord Krishna and gain concentration and mental strength.”
Target
Priyanka Goswami is now preparing for the forthcoming international meet. That is Asian Championship to be held in March next year in Japan. She revealed,
“My target is to break my record in the 20K race walking that I made last year and qualified for Tokyo Olympics. The time was 1:28.45. I will have to walk against Chinese and Japanese walkers who are the best in the world. So it is tough but before Asian Games and World Championship next year I will be able to assess my position after Asian Championship.”
Priyanka Goswami has been training hard under the national coach Gurmit Singh and she also hinted that plans are there to make a high-altitude training either in any foreign country or at Ooty (Udhagamandalam). She has been walking almost four hours a day including both morning and evening sessions.
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The Dream that Priyanka Visualizes
On the day before her competition at Birmingham, the silver–medalist had seen a scene while worshiping her ‘Lord Krishna’. She visualized she was standing on the podium with a medal in one hand and the statue of Lord Krishna on another hand. Her visualization came to reality during the Commonwealth Games and Priyanka said,
“From now on every morning while worshipping my Lord Krishna with closed eyes I visualize the same scenario that I am standing on the podium with a medal in Paris and Krishna on another hand.”
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