Campal open ground

Leimapokpum Sanatombi Chanu: For Manipur’s Leimapokpum Sanatombi Chanu winning a gold medal is a routine affair. The veteran wushu player bagged her fourth gold, and fifth overall National Games medal on Thursday when she topped the standings in the Tai Chi event of Wushu’s Taolu division here.

But what makes her gold at the Campal Open Ground special is that this is her first National Games gold after giving birth to a baby girl last year. Sanatombi returned to the mat within six months and made her way back to the National Camp in Patiala by clinching a gold at the Senior Nationals in November 2022.

Her feat also kept her in the hunt for an Asian Games berth in Hangzhou, but she was not sent to China as she had not participated in any international competition since 2019.