No quarters given as first-time sprinter Hima brings the heat

PATIALA: Hima Das’ face was pale as she came to the NIS track for the 400m heats. The 400m is highly technical, arguably the most challenging of all race events. The very essence of bio-mechanics and physics is at stake because a fine quartermiler comes very close to breaking the same canons to which his race is hinged to.

“It involves 350m of running and a big heart,” former national 4x400m coach N Ramesh explained. “By 350m, the body’s fight against lactic acid reaches its peak. The body asks you to quit as the pain gets unbearable.”But for Hima, it was not just the physical exertion that was challenging her. She was competing for the first time and was clueless about how to pace her race. She had recently turned 18; a sprinter with less than two years of experience. In fact, she arrived late in athletics.

Before that, she played football, a passion she’d inherited from her father Ranjith Das, who played the sport during his youth.Hima had played more than 60 games for Nagaon, a district in Assam, where she was born and brought up. She wanted to make a name in football, and dreamed of being acknowledged as the female counterpart of the Lionel Messis and the Cristiano Ronaldos of the world. The Chhetris didn’t amuse her much. She always set herself the highest standards. However, the appalling state of women’s football later made her recant her faith. She knew that if she wanted to wear the India jersey, she would need to switch sports. That was when an organiser of an inter-school meet in Guwahati told her to move to athletics.

The transition happened smoothly. After being spotted by an Athletics Federation of India (AFI) official, she bagged silver in the youth nationals within a year.At the track, Hima seemed somewhat settled. Galina Bukharina, Russian coach of the national team, had told her to take it easy. As the gun went off, Hima was off the block like a bullet. When she finished, the clock read 53.21s, the best time in all heats.

“I just ran. I didn’t think much,” she said afterwards, those words prefixed with a brief pause for thinking. Pitted against some seasoned campaigners in the final, Hima will have to give her best to come out unscathed. But for the Assamese athlete, there is no such fear of losing. She knows that age is on her side, and that she’s just begun. “Moving from football to athletics wasn’t a bad move. I’ve found a new god: Usain Bolt.”Meanwhile, seasoned discus thrower Seema Punia set a meet record and also breached the CWG qualifying standard with a  61.05m effort. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon finished second.

NADA misses date

The Federation Cup is high priority for athletes, as it is the last trial for finalising the Commonwealth Games squad. But NADA seems to be thinking otherwise. On a day when one made the cut for Gold Coast, there were no NADA officials present. The reason is bizarre: the officials had thought that the competition would start on Tuesday, not Monday. “We had informed NADA well in advance. We wrote letters to them mentioning the exact dates. When they didn’t come, I rang up the NADA director general,” AFI secretary CK Valson said. “He said that they’d mixed up the date, and assured that they’ll ensure the presence of their staff from Tuesday.”

shan.as@newindianexpress.com