Hima Das stole the spotlight for scripting history on Thursday as she successfully clinched India’s first ever track gold medal at the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Finland. It was indeed a great news for her and her family and for the country as well.
Hailing from Assam, the 18-year-old Hima Das made the entire nation proud as she came through with flying colours. Hima Das recorded a time of 51.46 seconds in the 400m race event. The incredible fight that she put up at the mega event just goes to show that she is determined to win. Her undisputed exuberance also reinstilled faith in women empowerment.
Inspired by Hima Das’ achievement, the fans in Finland made up their mind to surprise India’s golden girl as they raised a staggering 1 lakh. “Let’s do something for her:’ Vicky Moga, who runs the Warriors Hockey Club in Helsinki, initiated the chat.”
“Within 10 to 15 minutes, we raised 900 euros and soon touched our target of Rs 1,00,000 (1250 euros approximately),” he told TOI Sports from Finland.
“We wanted to honour Hima (Das) as her fellow Indians, also because she achieved this gold medal here in Finland, which is our home now,” Vicky added.
Those group of fans drove from Helsinki to Tampere (venue of IAAF World Under-20 Championships) and sought an appointment with Hima Das and the legendary PT Usha, who was also in the same place as a coaching staff.
Those fans then surprised Das with the announcement of Rs 1 lakh cash reward, which they will deposit directly to her bank account. “We want to ensure that this amount reaches directly to her, so we have decided that we will transfer it to her personal bank account,” said Vicky. “This is so overwhelming,” Das said after the felicitation.
