Odisha’s Bapi Hansda entered the history books when he became the first Indian to win a silver medal at the ongoing 5th Youth Asian Athletics Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In a separate development, ace badminton players Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became first Indians to win a gold medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Dubai in 58 years.
Hansda won the silver medal in the 400 meter hurdle race on Sunday. He completed the race in 51.38 seconds, his personal best, to finish ahead of Sri Lankan athlete Kuda Liyanage Ayomal, who clocked 51.40 seconds to win the bronze medal. Qatar’s Mahamat Abakar Abdrahman won the gold medal with a time of 50.91 seconds.
Applauding Hansda's feat, Odisha State Chief Naveen Patnaik congratulated Bapi on his achievement at the Asian level, saying: "He is an inspiring example for other athletes. In spite of a lot of challenges in his personal life, Bapi has been able to achieve this feat. I wish Bapi, the coaches and the entire team of the Odisha Reliance Foundation HPC the very best. I am happy that our investment in the sports ecosystem has started showing results.”
In March, Hansda was awarded INR 2.5 million ($30,567) for winning a gold medal in the 400 meter hurdle race at the 18th National Youth Athletes Championship.
Hansda is currently part of the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Center. The Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Center is a collaborative effort between the Odisha Government and Reliance Foundation, with the aim to ensure that India and Odisha's athletic talent has access to the best infrastructure, coaching team, equipment, sports medicine and rehabilitative support that is needed to deliver at the highest levels of performance.
Satwik-Chirag End India’s Dry Run for Medal
On Sunday, Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ended the country's wait for the gold medal at the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) by defeating Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in the finals.
They became the first Indians to win since Dinesh Khanna won the gold medal at BAC in 1965. He had defeated Thailand’s Sangob Rattanusorn in men’s single finals.
However, Dipu Ghosh and Raman Ghosh brought home a silver medal for the country in 1971.
The historic victory of Satwik and Chirag won praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He lauded them through a message posted on Twitter: “Proud of @satwiksairaj and @Shettychirag04 for scripting history by becoming the first Indian Men's Doubles pair to win the Badminton Asia Championships Title. Congratulations to them and wishing them the very best for their future endeavors.”
Apart from Modi, several ministers, sportspersons, eminent personalities and social media users have also heaped praise on the Indian shuttlers.