Odisha's Bapi Hansda First Indian To Win Silver At Mens 400m Hurdles In Asian Youth Athletics Championships

India's latest athlete Bapi Hansda clinched an impressive silver medal in the 400m hurdles at the ongoing 5th Youth Asian Athletics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Sunday. He clocked 51.38 seconds, his personal best to finish ahead of Sri Lanka's Kuda Liyanage Ayomal who timed 51.40 to bag bronze while Qatar's Mahamat Abakar Abdrahman won the gold with a time of 50.91 secs.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, "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 native of Basta in Balasore - a coastal district in the northernmost part of Odisha, is currently part of the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Center and has been making remarkable strides in the 400m hurdles. Bapi recently won gold at the 18th National Youth Championship clocking 51.90 secs. With this timing, Bapi ranked World No 1 in the under-18 years age category and also qualified for Asian Youth Athletics Championship.

Chief Minister Patnaik had recently felicitated Bapi Hansda with a cash award of Rs 25 Lakhs for his feat at the Nationals.

Speaking about Bapi's race in Tashkent, an elated Head Coach of the Odisha Reliance HPC Martin Owens said, "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