Special footwear for India’s 12-toed Swapna Barman

An Indian athlete with six toes on each foot who won gold at the Asian Games is to receive special custom-made shoes after a company boss was touched to hear of the pain she suffered while running in the heptathlon.

The 21-year-old Swapna Barman spoke after winning the regional Olympics title on Thursday of how her rare deformity caused agony with each step in her final event, the 800m. A government-run enterprise in the southern city of Chennai has come forward to help Barman get customised shoes.

“After she won the gold I saw on TV that she had a deformity in her feet,” said Sudhanshu Mani, general manager of Integral Coach Factory, a railway coach manufacturer that also funds training for athletes. Mani told AFP that Barman needs four different pairs of shoes for the heptathlon’s seven events.

“We are in touch with Nike. We are waiting for her to come back so that we can get her size and get the customised shoes made for her,” he said, explaining that his company would bear the cost.