Tokyo Olympics: Sports minister Kiren Rijiju consoles injured sprinter Hima Das

Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, on Wednesday consoled sprinter Hima Das who is set to the miss the Tokyo Olympics due to injury. The 21-year-old Hima sustained a hamstring injury on Saturday during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships. She pulled out of the 100m and 4x100m relay finals due to the injury. Yet to recover fully, Hima ran in the 200m final on Tuesday but finished fifth to miss out on the Tokyo Olympics.

"Injuries are part & parcel of athlete's life. I spoke to @HimaDas8 and told her not to lose heart on missing the Olympics #Tokyo2020 and prepare for 2022 Asian Games, 2022 Commonwealth Games, and 2024 Paris Olympics," tweeted Rijiju.

Injuries are part & parcel of athlete's life. I spoke to @HimaDas8 and told her not to lose heart on missing the Olympics #Tokyo2020 and prepare for 2022 Asian Games, 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2024 Paris Olympics! https://t.co/o6Z6kAtWor pic.twitter.com/GWcPfK5RtF — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) June 30, 2021

Hima came to the limelight after winning 400m gold in the World Junior Championships in Finland in 2018. Besides winning an individual 400m silver, she was also a part of gold-winning women’s 4x400m relay and mixed 4x400m relay teams in the 2018 Asian Games.

Notably, World Athletics will be publishing the list of qualified athletes for the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday (July 1).

Meanwhile, ace Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in both 100m and 200m races via the World Rankings quota on Wednesday.

22 spots were available in 100m and 15 spots in 200m via the World Rankings route. Dutee Chand's overall position of World No. 44 in 100m and World No. 51 in 200m were well within the ranks to make her eligible to fly to Tokyo next month.