HIMA DAS SCRIPTS HISTORY, FIRST FEMALE TO WIN GOLD IN UNDER-20 WORLD ATHLETICS

Indian sprinter Hima Das on Thursday scripted history by becoming the first female athlete to win a gold medal in a World Championship at any level, be it youth, junior or senior. The 18-year-old clinched gold medal in the women's 400m final race in the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Tampere, Finland.

Das from Assam clocked 51.46 seconds to claim the gold to become the first Indian to have won a gold in a track event at the world level. Earlier, Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra had won gold in Poland in the last edition in 2016, Seema Punia had won bronze in discus in 2002 and Navjeet Kaur Dhillon had won bronze in discus in 2014.

The girl had earlier finished sixth in the Commonwealth Games 400m final in Gold Coast in April by clocking an Indian U-20 record of 51.32 seconds.