Khelo India Youth Games: Silver winner Akshay Boro calls Hima Das an inspiration

Assam rejoiced when the local boy Akshay Boro bagged a silver medal in the U17 Boys 200m category at the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games 2020 in Guwahati. Akshay clocked 22.39 seconds to finish the race but lost gold to Uttar Pradesh’s Vijay Kashyap (22.26 seconds).

The young sprinter started running in 2018 after he watched fellow Assamese Hima Das winning accolades at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. According to Khelo India website, Akshay, after winning the silver, said that Hima Das is his idol and her win in 2018 gave him the inspiration to pursue the sport. 

The 16-year-old holds another similarity with Hima’s journey as both the sportspersons played soccer in their initial years. Akshay reportedly started playing football because it was ‘easy to play’ but noticed fellow youngsters running and that’s when he developed an interest in it. He then decided to opt for full-time training and finally shifted to SAI Centre, Paltan Bazar in Guwahati.

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Training for two years

Akshay has been training for the last two years in Guwahati and was delighted despite missing the gold by a narrow margin. The young sprinter said that he was happy to have won the silver medal in front of his home crowd. Hoping to reach newer heights in the next few years, he said that it was a matter of great pride for him to have been able to produce a good performance. He wants to represent India at the highest level win medals for the country and wants his hometown, Chaygaon, to be recognised throughout India for producing world-class sprinters.

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The third edition of Khelo India Youth Games for Under-17 age group (Boys & Girls) and Under-21 age group (Boys & Girls) in 20 sports disciplines is underway and will conclude on January 22. The objective is to help youngsters look forward to playing the mega competition in the same way as seniors look forward to participating and winning medals at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games or Olympic Games.

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