GUWAHATI: Assam’s golden girl, Hima Das was conferred with Arjuna Awards at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Ram Nath Kovind on September 25.
Hima’s name figured at number 3 in the list of 20 Arjuna awardees prepared by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, and weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, the first Indian to win gold at the World Championships in more than two decades, received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on Tuesday, the highest sporting honour in the country.
It has been a great year for Hima on the track. The rich haul of medals by the “Dhing Express” (an endearing sobriquet that Hima has earned nowadays) at Asian Games comes after she won the gold medal at the IAAF World U-20 Championships in 2018 over the 400 M distance – the Indian athlete to win a medal at any world event.
In Indonesia, she won two silvers and a gold, whilst setting a national record when she clocked 51.00 to qualify for the 400 metre final, which she again bettered to clinch silver with a timing of 50.79. Hima’s second silver came in the mixed team 4x400 M relay event while she clinched gold in the women’s 4x400 M relay event.
Among the other sportspersons who were conferred with the Arjuna Award are Neeraj Chopra and Jinson Johnson for athletics, N Sikki Reddy (Badminton); Satish Kumar (Boxing); Smriti Mandhana (Cricket); Shubhankar Sharma (Golf); Manpreet Singh, Savita (Hockey), Ravi Rathore (Polo), Rahi Sarnobat, Ankur Mittal, Shreyasi Singh (Shooting); Manika Batra, G Sathiyan (Table Tennis); Rohan Bopanna (Tennis), Sumit (Wrestling); Pooja Kadian (Wushu); Ankur Dhama (Para-Athletics); Manoj Sarkar (Para-Badminton).