The inspiring story of Dhing Express of India Hima Das

In July 2018, the name of an 18-year-old athlete from Assam was trending at the top of Google. Do you know why because she created history in Tampere city of Finland.

Recognitions do not get in a moment...

By the way, nothing happens in a moment, behind every success there is a very strong and passionate struggle. Everyone can see that day of success, but no one can see the complicated path to reach there.

We are talking about Indian sprinter Hima Das, who won the gold medal in the 400 meters race event of the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships. She completed this race in 51.46 seconds.

Before her, no female player from India could win gold in the World Championship at any level, junior or senior. Hima Das is also known as 'Dhing Express'.

Andrea Miklos of Romania got silver and Taylor Manson of America got the bronze medal. You will be surprised, but this is also the specialty of Hima Das till the 35th second of this race, Hima Das was not even in the top three players, but later the speed she caught made history.

Hima Das, who won India's first medal in the IAAF's track event, won the gold medal in the women's 200 meters race on 6 March 2022 at the ongoing Federation Cup (AFI Federation Cup 2022), India's premier athletics tournament in Kozhikode, Kerala. Aishwarya Kailash Mishra won the silver medal in this event. 

Hima Das won the gold medal by defeating Aishwarya Kailash Mishra. Two days back, Aishwarya Kailash Mishra had won gold in 400 meters, but here she fell short of Hima Das by a mere 1 second. Hima Das completed the race in 23.63 seconds, while Aishwarya Kailash Mishra took 23.64 seconds. Priya H Mohan won the bronze medal by finishing third with 23.85 seconds.

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The story of Hima Das is not just like this, so let's know her story

Behind the immense success of Hima Das is her hard work, passion, dedication, and strong spirit. She comes from a simple farmer family.

Hima Das's style of running on the track is something special. She mainly participates in 200m and 400m races.

She starts off slow and when all of a sudden everyone gives up hope of her winning, she picks up her lightning speed and goes straight to victory.

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Family Cultivates Paddy

Hima Das was born on 9 January 2000 in Kandhulimari village of Nagaon district in the state of Assam. This village is situated near Dhing Nagar in Assam. Her father's name is Ranjit Das and his mother's name is Jonali Das.

He has a family of 17 people. She is the youngest of 6 siblings. The whole family cultivates paddy ie rice. Hima has also spent a part of her life sowing and weeding the fields.

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She was fond of Playing Football

Hima Das got her early education from a school in her village. She was fond of playing football during her school days. She used to play football with the boys in school. At that time she was looking at her career in football only.

She used to win 100-200 rupees by playing some small-level football matches around her district and village.

There is a lot of running while playing football, so her stamina had increased a lot.

Then Shamshul Haque, the physical education teacher of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, advised her to pursue a career in running. Shamshul Haque introduced him to Gauri Shankar Roy of the Nagaon Sports Association.

Due to a lack of running track facility, Hima Das practiced running on the clay football field in the early days of her career.

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Initial Struggle

Flood situations often occur in Nagaon, that place is not very developed. When Hima Das used to practice in the village itself, due to floods, she could not do her practice for many days. This is because the field or ground where she used to prepare for the race used to get filled with water due to floods. Now it is impossible to practice like this. How to run in wet mud?

Hima Das participated in district-level competitions and also gave her best.

Hima Das participated in the State Championship in Guwahati and won the bronze medal. Then she was sent for the Junior National Championship. Her training was less and her experience was negligible. Still, she reached the final of the 100-meter race. But this time her hands remained empty. She was quite disappointed.

This talent would have been lost somewhere if coach Nipon Das had not recognized the hidden talent in her.

In the year 2017, when Hima had come to participate in the Inter-District Competition organized by the Directorate of Youth Welfare in the capital Guwahati, Nipon Das of 'Sports and Youth Welfare' noticed her during that district-level competition. After this coach Nipon Das taught her all the qualities of an athlete.

In this competition, Hima Das participated in the race of 100 meters and 200 meters. She had secured the first position in both these races.

Nipon Das said in an interview, “It was the month of January. Hima Das came to the capital Guwahati to participate in a local camp, the way she was running on the track, I felt this girl has the potential to go further.”

Coach Nipon Das convinced Hima's family to allow their daughter to go to Guwahati for training. It was a bit difficult, but with the efforts of the coach, the family members said yes.

Her father was happy that her daughter would be able to get three meals a day. But this was just the beginning of a new struggle.

Hima Das now had to catch a bus every day from her village to Guwahati, 140 km away. Then it used to be till 11 in the night to come back home from training. This became a matter of concern for the family members.

Once again coach Nipon Das helped and with the help of a local doctor, she got Hima Das a place to stay right next to the sports complex.

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When History Was Created

In 2018, the Commonwealth Games were to be held in Australia's Gold Coast from 4 to 15 April. Now Hima Das was in a dilemma before the tournament as her board exams were about to take place during that time.

But this time the family members fully supported and said that such a chance to play would be available only after 4 years, and board exams could be held next year as well.

Her confusion was completely dispelled, she was ready with all her might. She finished sixth in the 400 meters race at the Commonwealth. Her team finished seventh in the 4*400 relay race.

Hima Das also participated in the 200 meters race at the Asian Youth Championships held in Bangkok and finished seventh.

In 2018, she won the gold medal in the Interstate Championship held in Guwahati.

On 12 July 2018, Hima Das created a new record in the pages of India's history at the World Under-20 Championship in Tampere, Finland. By taking 51.46 seconds in the 400-meter race, he won India's first gold medal.

In the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, in August 2018, she won the silver medal in the 400 meters race on 26 August with a time of 50.79 seconds. Along with this, her team won two gold medals in the 4*400 relay race.

The German company that manufactures ADIDAS footwear is dominant in its field. That company made Hima Das its ambassador by writing a letter in September 2018. Now her name is printed on ADIDAS shoes. Today Hima Das is a brand herself, whose pace is continuously increasing.

In 2019, Hima Das appeared for her 12th board exams and passed with first division.

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19-year-old Hima Das won 5 gold medals in 19 days

Hima Das made the country proud by winning gold medals 5 times in competitions held in Europe between 2 July 2019 to 20 July 2019.

Hima Das won the first gold medal on 2 July 2019 in Poland, 'Poznan Athletics Grand Prix' by clocking 23.65 seconds in the 200 meters race.

On 7 July 2019, at the 'Kutno Athletics Meet' in Poland, Hima Das won her second gold medal in the 200-meter race by completing her race in 23.97 seconds.

On 13 July 2019, Hima Das again won the third gold medal by completing the women's 200 meters race in 23.43 seconds in the 'Klando Memorial Athletics' held in the Czech Republic.

19-year-old Hima Das once again won her fourth gold medal by completing the women's 200 meters race in 23.25 seconds during the 'Tabor Athletics Meet' held in the Czech Republic on 17 July 2019.

Hima Das won the 400 meters race in the Czech Republic on 20 July 2019 with a timing of 52.09 seconds. This was Hima Das's fifth gold medal in the month of July 2019, within just 19 days.

Even after winning 5 gold medals, she did not get the ticket for the World Championship to be held in September. This is because, in the 400 meters event, 51.80 seconds was the qualifying mark while Hima Das remained at 52.09.

To qualify in the 200 meters category, the race had to be completed in 23.02 seconds. Hima definitely won 4 gold medals but failed to reach this point in any of them. The competitions in which Hima has won the gold medal fall in the E and F categories. They are kept at the lowest level at the international level.

Hima Das's achievement was not very big, but it is special in many ways.

There are standards of beauty to reach the cover of magazines like Elle India, Femina, and Vogue, where Hima Das challenged those standards and earned her place on the strength of her talent.

India's 400m women's record holder Hima Das has been restricted to short sprint events in 100m and 200m sprints in 2021 due to a lower back injury.

She has also focused on 100m and 200m events in the 2022 season. But she is soon practicing hard to look like never before on the track.

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Got the post of DSP

On February 26, 2021, Hima Das was appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in Assam Police. Hima Das was appointed to this post under the 'Integrated Sports Policy' of the state.

Awards and Honors

• Hima Das was awarded the Arjuna Award by the President of India on 25 September 2018.
• In 2020 she was nominated for Khel Ratna.
• She appeared in India's famous TV reality show hosted by actor Amitabh Bachchan named Kaun Banega Crorepati on 1 November 2019.

Our wishes to the Hima Das who takes her speed to new heights every day.

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