After Rio 2016, athlete Lalita Babar will now put her family first!

Lalita Babar, who is back from Rio where she finished a credible tenth in 3000m event, wants to spend quality time with her folks at home

Pune: Steeplechase athlete Lalita Babar may have finished a credible 10th in the women’s 3000m race thus emulating Indian legend PT Usha by entering in the final. Now back home after garnering rich experience in her first Olympics, Babar wishes to spend time at home before preparing herself for Tokyo 2020.

Lalita Babar addressing Pune Union Working Journalist (PUWJ ) in Pune yesterday

"While building my career I neglected my family a lot. But now I will spend a month before I start preparing for the next Olympics. I am confident with my performance and will definitely try to give it my best, Babar, who is here for a Zika virus check up , told mid-day yesterday.

‘All credit to my coach’
Babar heaped praise on her coach Nikolai Snesarev while elaborating on her Rio experiences. "It was a prestigious moment for me. All credit goes to my coach. He was strict and that has made me what I am today. During my performance the climate was humid and for Indians this was a positive sign. During my semifinal round I had sustained injuries, but I did well," she explained.
The situation at Babar’s residence remains a gloomy one. The 27-year-old lives in a joint family with her eight sisters and three brothers, and preparing for the quadrennial event was tough, specially when home had no clue about the significance of the event.

"When journalists started visiting my home, my mother and grandmother would ask, ‘What is Olympics?’. For them it was just a competition but later I explained it to them in detail. I started running to reach school which was in the nearby village. Then I started participating in small competitions organised by local politicians. My focus was improving and my performance made me think that I should play at the national and international level," Babar added.

Parents’ backing
Add to the crisis at her, the culture that she belonged from also didn’t hold her on the right track. "Sometimes I had to sleep on an empty stomach. I ran without shoes. But my parents stood by me. They even took a loan from my relatives to purchase shoes for me which kept my morale high," she said.

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