Lily determined to go the distance at Jr Worlds

KOLKATA: The distance between Tribeni in Hooghly district of Bengal to Bydgoszcz, Poland, is more than 6,000 km. Diminutive middle-distance runner Lily Das has had to overcome many hurdles to be able to undertake this journey later this week.
It's hard to fathom the inner strength of this self-effacing teenager unless one has seen her on the track where she leaves her rivals far behind.Das will be one of India's best bets in the upcoming World Junior Athletics championship to be held in Bydgoszcz from July 19 to 24.
Hailing from a lower-middle class family in Tribeni, 62 km off Kolkata, Lily wanted to be dancer when she grew up. Das family faced a grim situation when the jute mill in which her father was employed downed shutter one fine morning. Lily's dad had to dip into his savings to get his three other daughters married. He then started a small hardware business to make both ends meet.
Lily's talent was first spotted by Rathin Das, a local athletics coach. "In 2011, I took part in my first state meet and won gold in 600m for girls' Under-14 event," Lily recollected.
That helped her get admission to Sports Authority of India (SAI), Eastern Centre, in Salt Lake as a trainee under Kalyan Chaudhuri. It had a huge bearing on her career and she progressed by leaps and bounds. She shattered the national 1500m record in the Federation Cup National Junior Athletics Championships which helped her earn a berth in the World Junior Championship.
She clinched double gold in 1500m and 800m, clocking 4.29.50s and 2.06.64s respectively in the Asian Junior Athletics Championship.