Athlete Prodigy Bapi Hansda Narrates His Struggle and Success to 5T Secretary

Bhubaneswar: Bapi Hansda is now a well known name in the world of athletics. This 17-year old prodigy from an improvised tribal family has made headlines nationally after winning a Gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the recently concluded 18th National Youth Athletics Championship with a time of 51.90 sec.

In an one-to-one conversation with Secretary to CM (5T) VK Pandian, Hansda has narrated his real-life hurdles and how he beat the hurdles with his strong determination and will power to become the World Number One in Hurdles under 18 years age category. He has qualified for the Asian youth athletics championships in Uzbekistan.

Hansda, who hails from Baleswar, is the youngest of five siblings and had lost his father in 2008. After lot of personal struggles, he found his passion for athletics and was spotted by the HPC (High Performance Centre) set up by State Government in partnership with Reliance, for his talent and inducted into the Kalinga Stadium in 2019.

Within a short period, he displayed exceptional talent and work ethics which impressed the coaches. Since then he is a part of the endurance training program at the athletic HPC and he also got the opportunity to train with some of India’s top International athletes at Ooty, earlier. And finally Hansda scripted history.

During the interaction with the 5T Secretary, the young prodigy has narrated his inspiring journey. Hansda also expressed his deep gratitude to the Odisha Government and HPC for providing him all necessary supports and motivations.

Pandian, who has seen him at the Kalinga Stadium coming for practice everyday even during peak of COVID-19 pandemic, said that Hansda is an inspiration for all us.

The 5T Secretary also posted a video of his interaction with Hansda on his Instagram handle.

Showering his praises for Hansda, the 5T Secretary said, “Always smiling even behind the mask he tackled every hurdle to become a world class hurdler. Full of gratitude to all those who shaped him so far.. the coaches the support staff and well wishers, Bapi is chasing a dream of getting gold in Olympics and the Indian national anthem being played in the Olympic podium”.

Recently, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has felicitated Hansda for his achievement.