India’s Bapi Hansda clinched an excellent silver medal within the 400m hurdles on the ongoing fifth Youth Asian Athletics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Sunday. He clocked 51.38 seconds, his non-public best possible to complete forward of Sri Lanka’s Kuda Liyanage Ayomal who timed 51.40 to bag bronze whilst Qatar’s Mahamat Abakar Abdrahman gained the gold with a time of fifty.91 secs.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik mentioned, “I congratulate Bapi on his achievement at the Asian level. 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.”
Bapi, a local of Basta in Balasore – a coastal district within the northernmost a part of Odisha, is recently a part of the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Center and has been making exceptional strides within the 400m hurdles. Bapi not too long ago gained gold on the 18th National Youth Championship clocking 51.90 secs. With this timing, Bapi ranked World No 1 within the under-18 years age class and likewise certified for Asian Youth Athletics Championship.
Chief Minister Patnaik had not too long ago felicitated Bapi Hansda with a money award of 25 Lakhs for his feat on the Nationals.
Speaking about Bapi’s race in Tashkent, an elated Head Coach of the Odisha Reliance HPC Martin Owens mentioned, “Bapi ran a brave race. He was a bit nervous before the race because he had finished third yesterday in the heats due to which he was assigned lane 8. I call it a gutsy effort by him today because he was almost running blind in lane 8, he was a little behind midway but made a brilliant finish. Considering this is only his 5th attempt in the 400m hurdles, it is a fantastic achievement and the lad has clocked his personal best.”
The Head Coach is constructive about Bapi’s potentialities within the upcoming occasions too. He will subsequent be vying for honors within the Commonwealth Championships in August. “We will be looking at taking him for the Commonwealth Championships in August and then prepare for the Junior World Championships next year. This kid has a lot of potential,” added Martin.
The Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Center is a collaborative effort between the Odisha Government and Reliance Foundation with the purpose to be sure that India and Odisha’s athletic ability has get entry to to the most productive infrastructure, training staff, apparatus, sports activities drugs and rehabilitative give a boost to this is had to ship on the absolute best ranges of efficiency. Since 2019, the Odisha Reliance Foundation HPC has educated over 50 athletes throughout more than a few athletics disciplines and gained many medals on the nationwide and global degree.