‘Pro Panja League has helped put Armwrestling in India on the map': Kochi KD’s Chetna Sharma

For a sportsperson, journey towards professional sport almost always begins from casual competition. Similar was case for Armwrestling champion Chetna Sharma, who hails from Assam . In Pro Panja League, Chetna turned out for Kochi KD’s who were eventual champions of inaugural edition.

Chetna comes from a sporting background, and has always h backing of her family when conversations came to sports. A champion athlete in her school days, Chetna was introduced to arm wrestling by her husband. Initially, Chetna’s interest levels in arm-wrestling were t very high but n came 2011.

“re was an arm wrestling competition near my house in 2011, and after a bit of thought and convincing, I decided to take part. I didn’t win but that’s when my interest started to grow and n I started practicing, and I didn’t win initially also because I am t genetically gifted. I was a person who was very much into sports though,” Chetna said.

It took Chetna a couple of years of hard work and toil before she got her first significant triumph, and she explained that once she started her journey, she wasn’t going to give up. “For first couple of years, when I wasn’t winning it was tough, but I never thought about giving up. For me, it was always about giving it ar shot. And n in State Championship in 2013 is when I tasted success in Assam in 53kg weight category.”

That encourd Chetna, and she decided it was time to keep giving it her best shot. She performed well in national competition and n was also a finalist in Champion of Champions competition in 2013, which furr motivated her. While Chetna h been competing in domestic circuit, she believes that Pro Panja League has been a lucky charm for her.

“When Season 1 of Pro Panja League began we didn’t kw what was coming, apart from fact that it was a tournament, and we wanted to win. But experience of playing alongside ors who weren’t from your region was really nice. It was great to win first season of Pro Panja League, but from n to w, I have worked hard to improve on my weaknesses,” she quipped.

Chetna, who will compete in 65kg category this year, is a software engineer by profession, and is coached by her husband Nayan Jyoti Bora. Speaking about future of sport, she said, “This sport has a good future, I have been seeing it from 2011, and re is constant improvement in infrastructure. And PPL has played a big role in this. w people want to take part in Armwrestling, inste of power lifting or any or sport. I feel in next five years, arm-wrestling story will be a very different one as compared to current situation.”