HIMA DAS- Influential Indian Woman

 Hima Das: The Story of India’s Golden Girl

Hima Das is an Indian sprinter who hails from Assam. In a country that has a drought of sprinters, Das is like a refreshing drizzle. The 19-year-old is the first and the only Indian athlete to ever win a gold medal in a track event at the IAAF World U20 Championships. Das is also the holder of the current Indian national record in 400 meters with a timing of 50.79 seconds that she clocked at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, Indonesia. Earlier in 2019, Hima set a new milestone by winning 5 consecutive international gold medals in just 20 days.

Early Life:

Hima Das was born in a poor family near Kandhulimari village in Assam’s Nagaon district on 9 January. Her parents, Ronjit and Jonali Das belong to the indigenous Kaibarta community. Both of them do farming to support the family.

She did her alma mater at the Dhing Public High School. There Das was interested in playing football, a sport she would play with the boys. Although she wished to continue playing football, Hima was advised to change her preference to sprinting.

It was Shamshul Sheikh, a teacher at the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, who gave the most valuable piece of information to the youngster after watching her incredible speed while playing football. What followed is history.

Details

Full name	Hima das
Age	19
Gender	Female
Sport Category	Sprinting
Date of birth	9 Jan 2000
Hometown	Dhing
Height	1.67
Weight	52
Coach	Nipon das,Galina,Nabajit Malakar
Parent	Ranjit das,Jonali das
Medals	5

Struggles:

Hima‘s achievement is even more remarkable if we consider that she started using spikes only a couple of years ago. The eldest of the six siblings, Hima’s superior talent first came to light at an inter-district meet back in 2016.

Due to the unavailability of a professional running track, she had to practice on a muddy football field.

However, despite the lack of training facilities and equipment available, the resilient sprinter scalped a bronze medal in the state meet. Later that year, she reached the 100m final at the junior nationals.

Eventually, Das qualified for the women’s 200m event at the Asian Youth Championships, Bangkok. She went on to finish seventh in the tournament.

Moreover, she had become the first Indian sprinter to ever win a gold medal at an international track event. In the match, her run was slower in the first half.

 However, she timely accelerated in the last 100-meter stretch. Das won the competition dramatically, overtaking as many as three competitors to get the top honors.

The 5 medal-milestone:

The year 2019 didn’t start well for Hima Das as her back pain aggravated from bad to worse. It is understood that she suffered discomfort in the back post of the Asian triumph. However, mismanagement of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) officials’ had led to the worsening of the injury.

After spending most of the first half of 2019 on the sidelines, Hima made a winning return on July 2 by winning a gold medal at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland. She matched it up with another gold five days later at the Kutno Athletics Meet, also in Poland. The sprinter followed it up with medals three more yellow metals in the span of 20 days, setting a new milestone. Hima matched it up with another top finish at the Athleticky Mitink Reiter event in the Czech Republic in August.

India is proud to have women like HIMA DAS. She not only has made the whole nation proud but she also has given rise to a fresh sea of hope for young girls who fear dreaming.

Articly by: Chetana Chaudhari

Edited by: Aastha Soni