India’s top sprinter, Hima Das, has been nominated for the prestigious ‘Khel Ratna” award, by the state government of her home state, Assam.
Earlier this month, the sports secretary of Assam, Dulal Chandra Das, had sent the letter of recommendation to the sports ministry.
In order to win India’s highest sporting honour, Hima will have to compete with several other Indian sports stars who have had stellar performances in the previous years.
The nomination list includes cricketer Rohit Sharma, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal & javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra.
20-year-old Hima is from Dhing village in Assam and is one of the youngest nominees for the award this year.
ALSO READ:
Pakistani Cricketer Shahid Afridi tested positive for COVID-19
In 2018, Hima became the country’s 1st track athlete to win a global title at the Under-20 World Championship, held in Finland.
2018 was certainly a memorable year for Hima as she followed this win with her U-20 title with 400m silver, 4×400 gold in mixed relay & a 4×400 gold at the Asian games held at Jakarta.
She won a number of gold medals at smaller events in 2019 & was also invited at the Doha World Championship when an unfortunate back injury ruined her chances at the prestigious tournament.
Hima is also the recipient of the Arjuna Award, which she received back in 2018.