‘I like to be trained in India, I don’t prefer training abroad, Our country provides all weathers for training”
Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
Asian Games champion Hima Das has expressed her excitement over getting being nominated for the Arjuna Award saying “was like dream come true”. “Every Indian athlete’s dream is to be conferred with Arjuna award but to be honest I never expected nomination this year,I was hoping that next year I may get nominated” Hima told media persons at an event organised by Adidas where she was named its brand ambassador.
She surprised everybody saying that she likes to be trained in India ”I don’t prefer training abroad, Our country provides all weathers for training .Every zone has different weathers and we can train accordingly”
“ It was indeed surprise because majority of the athletes who have represented the country several times without achieving anything always clamour for foreign tours.
She is second high performing athlete from North East who has clearly stated that training camps should be held in the country. Earlier Olympian gymnast Deepa Karmakar ha also expressed such views..
Hima, hit the headlines by claiming the gold medal at the U-20 World Championship in Finland also won three medals — a gold and two silvers- in Women’s 4 400m and silver medals in mixed 4x400m and 400m individual event at the 18th Asian Games.
“The Finland (World Junior Championship) race remains one of my favourites and also the semifinal at Asian Games when it had started raining.” She said
Talking about her future plans,she said “The season is over now. Next year, there is South Asian Games, Asian Championship and World Championship, my coaches will guide me .I will train accordingly for these events
She praised foreign coach Galina Petrova Bukharina, saying “She is very supportive. She herself is an Olympian and sometimes we also don’t realise her methods and later we come to know why we did a particular training.
So we always come prepared everyday for the challenge that she will throw at us.”
Hima who clocked personal best of 50.79 secs to win silver at the 400m race said “There are few targets in my mind. I will do that one by one.
People expects a lot for me now and I will achieve that. I scored 50.79 at Asian Games, so even 50.78 is a step ahead,” she said adding “I thrive in competition, it feels good to improve timings and create records.”
She talked about her switching from football to athletics “My coach who was impressed by my speed asked me to run in the 400 m category, instead of 100m or 200m
.My coach was of the view that in the 400 m event, there is an individual event and a team (relay) event. For the relay team six people are picked up so one can always hope to get picked up for the team event.
“I was also advised to run in the 400 m event for some time. I participated in the National Games held in Chennai and clocked 57 seconds despite having some breathing problem.
After that I was selected for the national camp, where I met foreign coach i Galina ma’am (Russian Olympic bronze medallist Galina Bukharina. After that training, I participated in the Federation Cup and did well. The relay event gave me the chance opportunity to be a part of the six-member Indian team.