Hima Das gets first COVID-19 vaccine shot

Star sprinter Hima Das has received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and urged people to do the same to fight the dreaded virus.

The 21-year-old Hima, who is currently training at the NIS-Patiala, posted a picture taking her first jab on social media.

''Got first dose of Covid Vaccination. Get yourself vaccinated,'' Hima wrote on her Twitter handle.

She is the first top track and field athlete to have received the vaccine.

An Athletics Federation of India (AFI) official said that the individual athletes can now register themselves and get the vaccines.

Hima, who was a part of the women's 4x400m and mixed 4x400m gold-winning relay teams in the 2018 Asian Games, is yet to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

She was to run in the World Athletics Relay in Poland on May 1 and 2 as part of 4x100m team but India missed the event due to suspension of the connecting flight in the wake of the spiralling COVID-19 cases in the country.

She was also set to fly to Turkey in April as part of the Indian team for a training-cum-competition tour which was later put on hold after they were told to undergo hard quarantine for 14 days on arrival.