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Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday consoled sprinter Hima Das who is set to the miss the Tokyo Olympics due to injury.
The 21-year-old Hima sustained a hamstring injury on Saturday during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships. She pulled out of the 100m and 4x100m relay finals due to the injury. Yet to recover fully, Hima ran in the 200m final on Tuesday but finished fifth to miss out of the Tokyo Olympics.
"Injuries are part & parcel of athlete's life. I spoke to @HimaDas8 and told her not to lose heart on missing the Olympics #Tokyo2020 and prepare for 2022 Asian Games, 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2024 Paris Olympics!" Rijiju tweeted.
Hima Das had sustained a hamstring injury while running in 100m heats. The women's 4x100m team clocked 44.15 seconds in the National Inter-State Athletics Championships and it was outside the targeted time of 43.03 seconds.
The sprinter also tried to compete in the women's 200m final, but she was not able to meet the qualification mark.
Tuesday midnight is the deadline of the Olympics qualification period and the World Athletics will publish the list of qualified athletes for the Tokyo Games on Thursday.
Hima came to the limelight after winning 400m gold in the World Junior Championships in Finland in 2018. Besides winning an individual 400m silver, she was also a part of gold-winning women's 4x400m relay and mixed 4x400m relay teams in the 2018 Asian Games.