From Poland with pride: Sprint queen Hima Das celebrates her Class XII success 

GUWAHATI: Champion athlete Hima Das is celebrating her success in the Class XII board exams in Poland but this gutsy girl has her soul firmly in her roots.

As she was training hard on the tracks in the European country, she found a window to go online and check her results. She scored 70 per cent marks in the exam, the results of which were declared by the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council on Saturday.

A student of Arts (Humanities) who appeared from Dhing College in Central Assam’s Nagaon district, Hima aggregated 349 marks out of 500. She scored 63 in English, 84 in Assamese, 60 in Advanced Assamese, 75 in Political Science, 67 in Education and 46 in Geography.

“I will pursue my graduation from (native) Dhing with honours in the Assamese subject. I am an Assamese and hence it is very natural that I love it more than any other subject,” Hima told The New Indian Express on the phone from Poland.

She took Assam’s pride “gamosa” to the world stage when had wrapped it up around her neck following her historic gold medal at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, last year.

The champion athlete said it was a double delight for the family as her brother too had cleared the exam. 

“I myself checked the results online. Later, I had a talk with my family members and they were delighted,” she said, adding, “I studied whenever I got time. Apart from studying my subjects, I read a lot of non-prescribed books”.

She said she had left Assam for Patiala a day after she appeared in the exam. From there, she went to Japan and then to Poland to undergo the training.

“I seek the blessings of everyone for my upcoming events. I convey my regards to all those who have passed the exam,” she added.

This year, altogether 1,34,496 students had appeared in the exam in Arts stream and the pass percentage was 79.19.