Even as the entire world was gripped with football fever last week, a young, unassuming girl from the hinterland of Assam was setting the ground for India and its people’s hearts to swell with pride. For a country starved of great quality athletes, Hima Das simply dissed the notion by becoming the first ever Indian to win a monumental gold medal in an international track event.
The event—World Junior Athletics Championship, 400 metres race. The venue—Tampere, Finland. As she circled the field with folded hands, the tricolour proudly draped around her shoulders, people all over the country experienced a feeling of victory and exhilaration that was new to them. They lived and breathed her success with tears in their eyes and a silent blessing for the 18-year-old athlete.
Even the Indians in Finland joined the celebration. As a goodwill gesture, they did something extraordinary to felicitate her. The members of the Punjab Cultural Society and the Punjab Sports Club in Helsinki joined forces and raised 1250 euros in her honour. They deposited the Rs 1 lakh award to her bank account. Surely, a gesture that will help the girl with big dreams.
Youngest of four children, Hima started off at a young age playing football with the boys in her school at Dhing, Assam. A footballer was what she aspired to become. However, after the intervention of a local physical trainer, she changed tracks to become an athlete. Even as she won a spate of inter-district competitions, Nipon Das, an athletic coach spotted her talent and coaxed her to shift to the capital city of Guwahati for stringent training. The rest, as they say, is history. Hima’s hard work and dedication paid off, and with this victory, she has proved that Indians can run too.
PT Usha, India’s official queen of Indian track and field, also a part of HIma’s coaching staff, said her victory was one of the most unbelievable moments of her life. She recollected how foreign athletes would mock their Indian counterparts for not being up to mark during her time. It was a fitting reply to all those who doubted Indian talent, indeed!
Olympics next for Hima? Why not? We at Bold Outline would like to wish her good luck. Keep winning laurels for the country!
