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Hima Das wins India Silver at Asian Games

It wasn’t too long ago that Indian sprinter Hima Das created headlines by becoming the first Indian athlete to win gold in the Women’s 400 Meters, at the recent U20 World Championships in Tampere, Finland. She has now done it again, with a better score and at a much bigger stage as well.

She has gone on to make the entire country proud, by clocking 50.79 seconds in the Women’s 400 Meters Finals at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, finishing second to just Salwa Naser of Bahrain at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, and winning a historic gold medal for Team India.

In the qualification round itself, she clocked 51.00 seconds, which led to her breaking a 14-year old track and field record of Manjeet Kaur. She then saved her best for last, clocking 50.79 seconds in the final, clocking her personal best and bettering her own previously set national record for women’s 400 meters.

She made a statement after an impressive 6th place finish in the Commonwealth Game earlier this year, saying “I don’t chase medals, I chase time.” Clearly, her actions have spoken as much as her words. From that 51.29 seconds performance, to a 51.46 time in Finland, and now this 50.79 seconds run, she has improved leaps and bounds, becoming the first Indian female sprinter to clock a sub-51 score.

What’s better is that she is only 18-years old. The daughter of a farmer, Hima is known for her specialty of saving her best run for last. In that performance in Finland, she overtook around 3 to 4 opponents in the final 80 meters, while doing the exact same thing here in Jakarta, considerably accelerating in the final 100 meters, to finish second.

Keep reading GutshotMagazine.com for more updates from the 2018 Asian Games.

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