When you all were sleeping, I rocked the world: Hima Das

GUWAHATI: After giving India her first ever track gold medal at the

IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships

in Finland on Friday, Assam's Hima Das called up her father, thousands of kilometer at a non-descript Kandulimari village of Dhing in Nagaon district in central Assam to break the big news.


"When you all were sleeping, I rocked the world," was what she told her father Ranjit Das.

"I told her that we were all awake at home to watch her run in television, and she cried," Das told TOI from his home.

For Das, a well-to-do farmer, it was only a few days back when the family came to know that Hima had participated at such a big stage at the World U-20 Championships in

Tampere

in Finland.

"She never would tell us how big or important event she was participating in. She would tell us before leaving home that it was a small event. She feels that if she were to lose in the event, we will be left heartbroken and she never tells us about the competition," Das said.

The eldest of the four children of the Das', Hima recorded a time of 51.46 seconds on Thursday, much slower than her personal best of 51.13 seconds, which she had clocked few weeks back at 58th Inter-State

Senior National Athletics Championship

held in Guwahati before she left for Finland.

Her father said, "Hima would always tell me that she never runs for medals, but for time. She is never bothered about her position but her focus is always on how to better her own timing."

Hima is fondly called the 'Dhing Express' by the people of her native place, Dhing.