5 Inspiring Young Sports Personalities of India

Hima Das (Athlete)

Started her journey barefoot from the dirty muddy fields and roads of a village in Assam, Dhing, Hima Das, nicknamed as ‘Dhing Express’, now signed a deal with world’s popular German shoe brand Adidas. They have designed the shoes with sprinter’s name on the right and ‘create history’ on the left. This daughter of a poor rice farmer quickly rose to fame to becoming an athlete who won five medals in the European championships in around nineteen days, which is quite an achievement for the nineteen year old runner.

Despite the unavailability of facilities, Hima did not kill her dreams, and when she was chosen to represent India in Commonwealth Games, it took more than hours for her to talk to her mother. Recently, Bengaluru’s Bannerghatta Biological Park named a tigress cub Hima, to honour the Indian athlete Hima Das.

Achievements: Gold in 400m, World U-20 Championships 2018, Tampere, Gold in Women’s 4x400m & Mixed 4x400m at 2018 Asian Games, Silver in 400m at 2018 Asian Games.

Neeraj Chopra (Javelin Throw)

People may know him for his achievements in Commonwealth Games and Asian Games Jakarta, but there was a dark phase in Neeraj Chopra’s career. He left his home at the age of 14 to practice because of the lack of facilities at his village. Even though athletes from Haryana are winning at the national level, Neeraj claims that his village doesn’t have a playground. His father, Satish Kumar is a farmer in the village of Khandra in Panipat and mother being a housewife, Neeraj had to leave the house for proper training.

Neeraj is trained by Uwe Hohn, who is the only athlete to throw a javelin 100 metres or more.  For his recent achievements, Neeraj got congratulatory messages from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Katrina Kaif and others. He was body shamed when he was 12; however the 21-year old is now India’s best hope in Javelin throws at the upcoming Olympics.

Achievements: Gold in Javelin throw at 2018 Asian Games, 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2017 Asian Championships, 2016 South Asian Games, National Record Holder at 88.06m.