18-year-old Hima Das from Assam made the whole country proud by becoming the first gold medal winner in track and field event at the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships. She won gold in the 400m final race for women and scripted history for India.
The 18-year-old Das, a pre-tournament favorite, clocked 51.46s to win the gold. She now joins the famous company of javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who won the gold in Poland in the last edition in 2016 in a world record effort.
Hima, who hails from Dhing village in Nagaon district in Assam has just run her first competitive race 18 months ago and now became a gold medal winner in Tampere, Finland.
“Her race begins in the final 80 metres. Her progress just shows how much potential she has. It has been just two years since she first wore spikes,” says the coach Nipon Das.
The whole country was joyous on Hima’s achievement and the Indian cricket fraternity was one of them. They took to Twitter and congratulated Hima Das on her history creating moment.
Here are some of the best tweets:
Your 51.46 sec dash and years of hard work has paid off, #HimaDas. Many congratulations on winning Gold at the World U20 athletics championship. This is just the beginning of a new era. Many more to come. Keep up the hard work! #GoldenGirl #DreamsComeTrue pic.twitter.com/tL6tqq2hKI
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 13, 2018
18 year old young athlete, daughter of a farmer from Assam has clocked 51.46 to win the gold at IAAF U20 championships. This feat of the young superstar will inspire many generations of track & field athletes in India. Wow. Extremely proud moment. Congratulations #HimaDas pic.twitter.com/j9tNzfAmOP
— Jhulan Goswami (@JhulanG10) July 13, 2018
Incredible effort from Hima Das for winning gold medal for the country. No words can describe the feelings of this impeccable feat????
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) July 13, 2018
And young Hima Das makes India proud. Scripts history at #IAAFWorlds by winning Gold in 400m. Congratulations Hima ???????????????????? #WomenInSport
— Anjum Chopra (@chopraanjum) July 12, 2018
Champion ! Many congratulations Hima Das for creating history winning Gold medal in 400m of World U20 Championships, clocking 51.47s. 1st Indian athlete to win Gold in track event of U-20 World Championships. pic.twitter.com/htnmYsZBBj
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) July 12, 2018
Wow! So proud of you Hima Das. Incredible, historic achievement on becoming the first Indian track athlete to win a medal at any global event winning Gold at women's 400m World U-20 Championships clocking a time of 51.47 seconds. Thank you for the happiness. pic.twitter.com/Cs5wY8sDuM
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) July 12, 2018