The Assam Athletics Association (AAA) on Friday announced Rs 2 lakh as reward to Hima Das, who scripted history by winning gold in the women’s 400 metre final at the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championship at Tampere in Finland.
Addressing the media at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati, Assam Athletics Association (AAA) president Rakibul Hussain expressed happiness at Hima’s success in Finland.
He said, “The Assam Athletics Association congratulates Hima Das officially today for her performance at the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championship. We hereby announce an amount of Rs 2 lakh to Hima Das which we will hand over to her family within 2-3 days.”
“We hope she would also perform well in the upcoming Asian Games which is scheduled to be held at Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2 this year,” the AAA president said.
Stressing the need to revamp village -playgrounds of the state to bring out the talent of the players, he said, “There is a need to revamp the playgrounds across the state. The 33rd National Games, 2007 in Assam was the turning point in the sports sector of the state which attracted youth towards sports.”
Earlier in the year, Hima Das clinched gold in the women’s 200 metre and 400 metre race at the 58th National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship held at Guwahati.
Pradeep Nunisa, secretary of AAA was also present at the press conference.
Hima, who hails from 3 No Kandulimari village in Nagaon’s Dhing, has become the first ever Indian to bag gold at the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championship.