Debasish Dam Chowdhury trains young children at Badal Bose Cricket Academy. Picture by Gopal Senapati

He swung on parallel bars and rotated on the pommel horse deftly in his heydays. Debasish Dam Chowdhury made a name for himself in artistic gymnastics and represented India at the Asian Games twice before he retired from the sport. A resident of Calcutta, Debasish has shifted to an apartment on Andul Road a few years back because of his job with the South Eastern Railways.

“It was becoming difficult to travel all the way from Behala to my office, so I chose to shift here,” he said. A trainer at Badal Bose Cricket Academy that is right next to his home, the gymnast laments the decline of this sport in West Bengal, due to lack of apparatus and proper infrastructure.

Born and brought up at Agartala in Tripura, Debasish’s interest in gymnastics grew after he started physical training at a sports complex near his home. “I had joined swimming initially and then shifted to gymnastics in the winter months. For some reason I stuck to that and continued training at the centre. My coach, Montu Debnath, was a good trainer and I chose to do gymnastics at that time,” said Debasish.

From 1973, Debasish started representing Tripura in various tournaments. “I started playing at the state level competitions from that time onwards and in 1974, I took part in the All India School Championships when Tripura was the winner,” said Debasish. The gymnast played his first Asian Games in 1982 which was held in Delhi. “I was captain of India’s gymnastics team and we came fifth that year,” said Debasish. He again represented India in the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea. That year, too, India was fifth.

Among his individual achievements are national champion trophy in Bangalore in 1985. The same year, he again went to Iran as a member of the Indian team for an invitation championship where India came third. Although Debasish wanted to retire from national gymnastics after playing in one more Asian Games, he had to leave earlier. “India did not send a gymnastics team to the 1990 Asian Games so I lost out on that chance. Age was catching up, so I had to retire,” said Debasish.

Through the sports quota, Debasish landed a job in the Indo-Tibet Border Police Force in 1980 where he worked till 1983. In 1985, Debasish joined the South Eastern Railways and had to shift to Calcutta. “I was coach of South Eastern Railways and also for the national team of the Indian Railways,” said Debasish. In Calcutta, however, Debasish finds it difficult to practise artistic gymnastics. “I would go to the SAI (Sports Authority of India) training centre or Kshudiram Anushilan Kendra to practise because these were the only two places that had the apparatus for artistic gymnastics. Most clubs cannot afford the apparatus,” said Debasish.

According to him, gymnastics was a popular sport among women in West Bengal. “At the state level competitions, we would always find a number of women competitors from West Bengal. My wife, for example, was a national level gymnast from West Bengal. She has also played at the Asian Games in 1982. However, in recent years, this has changed. We find very few names from West Bengal in any sport,” said Debasish. He attributes this decline to the poor infrastructure. “Most people cannot afford to play sports like artistic gymnastics because there are very few places that have the apparatus,” said Debasish.

At Badal Bose Cricket Academy, Debasish is training youngsters in aerobics gymnastics. “This type of gymnastics includes floor exercises only. We cannot do more than that because the equipment for artistic gymnastics is too expensive,” said Debasish.

More about Debasish

• DoB: August 1, 1962
• Born in: Tripura
• Family: Wife, two sons
• Loves: Any kind of sport
• Hates: Indiscipline