India is proud of Hima

Hima Das is doing India proud. From superstar Amitabh Bachchan to legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, everyone is showering accolades on ace sprinter on her golden haul in Europe (“Tendulkar congratulates Das for dream run in Europe”, July 22, Gulf Today).

India is not much of a force on the world stage when it comes to track and field events and so deservingly, her feat of winning five gold medals on the trot in a span of three weeks, has taken the internet by storm.

Wining four races in 200m and one in 400m event, in Poland and Czech Republic since July 2, the Assam sprinter is speeding her way into people’s hearts. She is the current sensation irrespective of whether you are a reader who checks the final page of a daily before you glance through the headlines on the first page. The 19-year-old is a sensation with some dailies calling her the golden girl. Probably she will run in the shoes of India’s golden girl P T Usha in the near future.

Speculations are rife that she could be the torchbearer of the 2020 Tokyo Games, but I feel caution is needed. Laying too many expectations on her tender shoulders could prove disastrous. Yes, she has improved her timings and performance in every race she ran in the last few days. But the Assam sprinter who clocked a season-best time of 52.09 seconds has a lot of work to do. She fell short of qualifying for the World Athletics Championships as the 400m qualification mark for the world event is set as 51.80 seconds.

 A long road awaits the bright sprinter. But for now she is a champion India is proud of.

Purohit Shah
By email