Nagaon/Guwahati: Quarter-miler Hima Das finishing sixth in the 400m final in the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in Australia failed to dampen the mood in her home state.
A festive atmosphere prevailed at her house at Number 3 Auniati Kandhulimari village near Dhing town in Nagaon district where more than 4,000 people gathered to cheer her on her quest for a medal on a giant TV screen installed outside her residence.
A Plus-II student, the 18-year-old clocked a personal best of 51.32 seconds, improving upon her 51.53 seconds she clocked in the semi-final on Tuesday, in the process becoming the first woman sprinter to have made it to the final from India.
Hima had first hit the headlines by finishing fifth in the 200-metre sprint at the IAAF World Under-18 Championships, held in Nairobi, Kenya, from July 12 to 16, 2017. Hima had won a gold medal in the 400m race of the Federation Cup in February, clocking 51.97 seconds, to qualify for the Games.
"Win or lose, we are happy. Hima has gone places in one year for somebody hailing from Dhing. We hope she will continue to earn laurels for the state and the country," said Prafulla Bora, 35, a social worker. All day long she was the toast of social media.
The gold went to Amantle Montsho of Botswana while Anastasia Le-Roy of Jamaica won the silver and her compatriot Stephenie McPherson settled for the bronze.
Subhash Basumatary, senior SAI official, said, "She is the best thing to have happened after Arjuna awardee Bhogeswar Baruah and Tayabun Nisha in track and field events from Assam. She did well in a strong field and is definitely a medal prospect in the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018."
She is faster than the Asian Games gold medallist Kemi Adekoya of Bahrain who had clocked 51.59 seconds in 2014.
Bhogeswar Baruah is a 800m gold medallist in the 1966 Asian Games. Nisha represented India at the 1982 Asiad.
It was Samsul Haque, a sports teacher at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Dhing, who noticed her potential. She trained under coaches Nabajit Malakar and Nipon Das at a state camp at Sarusajai stadium in January last year. "After her feat at the junior world meet there, the state government provided accommodation and training. I am happy for her," Das said.
Her parents said it was her hard work that has paid off and they feel proud of what she has achieved, particularly her performance at Gold Coast, which most locals feel was as good as a gold medal for them.
Junior railway minister Rajen Gohain, who hails from Nagaon district, has reportedly offered Hima a grade III job.
