These Meets Were Warm-Ups For The World Championships: Hima Das

Indian track and field star athlete Hima Das secured her fifth gold in three weeks recently but now she has set her eyes on a bigger podium. She said that her focus is on the World Championships after winning five gold medals — four in 200m and one in 400m events. According to Hima, these five meets were warm-up before the big games.

“These five matches were training games, warm-up matches because big games like World Championship is coming up next. So for that, I am preparing. My focus is on these big games. I will try my best to do well there. I need your prayers and blessings,” Hima told ANI.

The athlete was praised by the President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan for her achievements. Returning the gratitude, she said, “I am overwhelmed. Everybody conveyed congratulations to me. President Sir, Prime Minister Sir, Sachin Sir, Amitabh Bachchan Sir and rest everybody applauded me. I want to thank each one of you. Keep blessing me.”

The ace sprinter’s fifth gold of the month came on July 20 in Czech Republic where she clocked a season-best time of 52.09 seconds at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand Prix.

The ace sprinter’s fifth gold of the month came on July 20 in Czech Republic where she clocked a season-best time of 52.09 seconds at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand Prix. Her first competitive 200m race of the year was on July 2, where she clocked 23.65 seconds to win gold at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland. After that on July 8, she won her second 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland clocking 23.97 seconds, and on July 13, the third international gold came in 200m at the Kladno Athletics Meet in Czech Republic, with a time of 23.43 seconds. On July 17, she won her fourth gold in 200m at the Tabor Athletics Meet, clocking 23.25 seconds.

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Highlights

• Hima Das recently won four gold medals in 200m races and another one in a 400m race.
• Hima received congratulatory messages from PM Narendra Modi, Sachin Tendulkar and others.
• She now eyes the World Championships, dreaming to represent India at the next Olympics.

Prior to World Relays, the 400m World Under-20 champion had to go in for rehabilitation and medication in order to recover from her lower back injury.

The reigning world junior champion and national record holder in 400m, Hima had recently clinched gold in the women’s 400m race in the Federation Cup in March. Despite the achievement, she narrowly failed to qualify for the Asian Championships on the final day of the competition. Prior to World Relays, the 400m World Under-20 champion had to go in for rehabilitation and medication in order to recover from her lower back injury.

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The 19-year-old has recently made it to the ‘Forbes India 30 Under 30’ list. She has also been appointed as the country’s first youth ambassador to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) India. Hima also showed a brilliant performance at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in April this year when she qualified for the final of the women’s 400m event, registering a personal best of 51.53 seconds timing. Thus she became the first Indian woman to qualify for an athletic track CWG final. Unfortunately, she finished sixth in the final.

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