Jeena in motion in opposition to Korea in the course of the FIBA ladies’s Asia Cup basketball event in 2019.
| Photo Credit: File photograph: Ok. MURALI KUMAR
Sometime final May, as P.S. Jeena intercepted a ball in an all-India basketball event in Salem, she realised that her touchdown was not correct.
“It was on one leg, I felt my knee turn…and my ACL was completely gone,” mentioned Jeena, the Indian captain at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, in a chat with The Hindu from Thiruvananthapuram.
She had surgical procedure in Coimbatore the following day and was on mattress relaxation for 2 months after that. Those had been laborious days.
“You tend to get into depression mode after an injury and a long break. And I had left my little son at home in Wayanad… emotionally it was very tough.”
The 30-year-old, who performs for Kerala State Electricity Board, made a good return to the court docket at the latest all-India event in Karur, Tamil Nadu, the place her crew defeated Railway champion Eastern Railway, a facet that included the nation’s tallest feminine participant Poonam Chaturvedi, 86-59 for the title. And Jeena walked away with the event’s finest participant award.
Second comeback
That was a form of second comeback for the ability ahead. In March 2022, eight months after the beginning of her son, she had returned to event motion. But this time, the comeback was harder.
“On my return after pregnancy I knew I could play like old if I reduced my weight a bit but since this (knee) injury came during a game, I was scared, there was a bit of hesitation too,” mentioned Jeena.
“And since basketball is a contact game, that worry was somewhere within me. But after the first game, it was okay.”
That was a huge reduction.
“I did not want to quit basketball because of an injury, I wanted to go only after playing well. So I worked very hard. I did my rehab in Thiruvananthapuram and everybody, KSEB (her employer), my coach (Aju Jacob) and my teammates, supported me,” mentioned the previous India captain.
Just a few years in the past, Jeena was one of its huge stars within the Indian crew and a common. But now, she just isn’t trying too lengthy into the long run.
“After the injury, instead of big goals, I have set small, small goals…to do today’s training well, to play this game well. I never thought I would take a long injury break, I was often playing for India but now all that has changed,” she defined.
“I’ve realised that we cannot think long or too far into the future after an injury…I want to play every game as my last game, that’s what I’m doing now.”
