How a long journey and a dream run made Hima Das national sprint queen

She received immense support from friends and family as a budding athlete in Assam – support that many others like her still don't have. The result: a slew of athletic talent around the state, and India, remains hidden.

Dhing, Assam: “Hima has always been brave and she’s really not afraid of anything,” says Jonali Das, Hima’s mother, sitting inside a dimly lit room on a humid, overcast morning in Kandulimari village, Assam. She looked very calm for a mother whose daughter created history just four days earlier in Tampere, Finland, becoming the lone Indian to win a gold medal at