New Delhi: The accolades have been flowing for Hima Das as she collected five gold medals in Europe over the course of this month and the latest one has come from none other than cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. The former India captain Sunday expressed his admiration for the 19-year-old ace sprinter through a tweet.
“Loving the way you have been running in the European circuit over the last 19 days. Your hunger to win and perseverance is an inspiration for the youth. Congrats on your 5 Medals! All the best for the future races, @HimaDas8. (sic.)” Tendulkar tweeted.
Hima’s latest gold came Saturday in Prague where she clocked a season-best time of 52.09 seconds to win the gold in 400m at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand Prix. Her personal best is 50.79 seconds, which she recorded at the 2018 Asian Games.
The Assam sprinter, however, failed to qualify for the World Athletics Championships as the 400m qualification mark for the world event has been kept as 51.80 seconds.
Earlier, Hima had won the gold in 200m at the Tabor Athletics Meet.
In her first competitive 200m race of the year on July 2, Hima had clocked 23.65 seconds to win gold at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland.
Then July 8, she won her second 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland. Braving a sore back, the Assam runner had clocked 23.97 seconds to win the gold while Kerala runner V.K. Vismaya had grabbed silver with a timing of 24.06 seconds.
She won her third 200m gold at the Kladno Athletics Meet in Czech Republic July 13 with a time of 23.43 seconds.