KIYG2021:A foreign coach comes to the rescue of a stranded Linthoi Chanambam

KIYG2021:The Manipuri judoka was stuck in Georgia for 8 months when the covid pandemic struck

KIYG2021:Manipur’s Linthoi Chanambam had flown into Georgia in the March of 2020. She was part of the Indian judoka team to participate in the Judo International Grand Prix in Tbilisi.

And then, the pandemic struck.

The tournament was cancelled and Linthoi found herself stranded in an alien land without any money in her pockets. Not sure how and when she would come back to India, Linthoi and the rest of the team spent many anxious nights.

Out of nowhere, Mamuka Kizilashvili, one of Georgia’s top coaches, came as a messiah: he opened the doors to his home in his village Akhmeta. He not only helped her find work to sustain herself but also trained them.

Her teammates Chanabam, Dev Thapa and Jasleen Saini too found succor from the villagers.

Linthoi’s 8-month stay in Georgia proved much more productive than she could ever have imagined. Now, she is one step away from becoming the Khelo India Youth Games’ biggest judoka star.

She easily won her initial two fights and is set to step in for the gold medal later in the evening. By all accounts, she is the hot favourite in the 57kg category.

Recalling those panic-stricken days, Linthoi, who has been training since 2017 at JSW’s Inspire Institute of Sports judo programme led by Kizilashvili and Dronacharya awardee Jiwan Sharma, says, “It was crazy when we realised that we could not go back to India. On top of it, I did not have even a phone. My parents were worried sick.

“Mamuka’s family treated me like I was a part of them. I did everything ¬ from training to farming to touring villages close by ¬ and had a great time,” says the winner of a gold medal at the National Cadet Judo Championship (2021) and a bronze at the Asia-Oceania Cadet Judo Championship in Beirut, Lebanon, in the same year.

The athlete goes to Manipur only once a year to meet her family. “It’s not easy. But it’s tougher to gain an edge over others in a combat sport. But thinking and doing things differently help,” she explains.

That translates to “mastering all modern techniques as they evolve and giving 100% to training, and performing with utmost concentration every time. I figure out how to do things right, don’t waste time and if there are difficulties I talk directly to the coach.”

Someone who unwinds with dancing (‘like aerobics’), Linthoi says the turning point came during her first international trip for a three-week camp at Tsukuba University, Tsukuba, in Japan, in 2019.

“Though it was a short trip, I learnt so many new things about judo and how international athletes train. The fact that I put up a good fight against them too helped raise my confidence levels.”

Linthoi, who comes from a family of farmers based in Imphal, Manipur, remembers being inspired as a child to take up sports because her family, especially her father and uncle, are “mad about sports. I am usually treated like a boy at home, not a girl,” she laughs.