On Thursday, July 12, Hima Das etched her name in history as the first Indian woman athlete to win a gold medal for India in a track event at the world level. She won gold for women’s 400 meters final race in IAAF World Under 20 Athletics Championships in Finland.
The 18 year old resident of Dhing village in Assam’s Nagaon district finished the race in 51.46 seconds and earned the historic gold medal for India. Hima’s parents Ronjit Das and Jomali are rice growing farmers with a family of six children. Hima is their youngest child.
Earlier, she finished 6th in the Commonwealth Games 400 meters final in Gold Coast making an Indian U-20 record of 51.32 seconds. Her personal best has been 51.13 seconds in the 400 meters race bringing the gold medal for Guwahati in National Inter State Championship.
Her coach Nipon Das, the Director of Sports and Youth Welfare, discovered her talent during an inter state meet. He convinced her parents to allow her to professionally train in Guwahati. He also convinced the officials at the Sarusajai Sports complex to initiate her into the State academy which mainly specializes in boxing and football.
And this is how Him Das became the first Indian woman to win an #IAAFworlds title pic.twitter.com/0Zhx0QuxZI
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) July 12, 2018
