At the age of 95, Haryana’s Bhagwani Devi Dagar clinched three gold medals for India at the 2023 World Master Athletics Indoor Championship in Poland. Nicknamed “Sprinter Dadi”, Bhagwani Devi, whose athletic career began at 94, followed up on her one gold and two silver medals from last year’s competition in Finland with first place in the 60m running, shot put and discus throw categories in the Polish city of Torun this time around. All three victories came in the 95-99 age division, with Bhagwani Devi competing in temperatures as cold as minus seven degree Celsius.
“Dadi’s win is a testament to the dreams of millions of Indian women who dare to put their dreams to action. She reinstates our belief in nari shakti and samman regardless of age, education, caste and creed. These are the very principles of Aparajita, which believes every woman has the wings to fly. We just need to make them believe in themselves. At Aparajita, we’re proud to have fully supported Dadi in her journey and hope she can continue to deliver many more historic wins in the time to come,” said Ruchika Gupta, director at the Kolkata-headquartered Sanmarg and founder guardian of Aparajita, which recognises and supports women achievers. For Bhagwani Devi’s Poland trip, Aparajita was in charge of sponsoring her travel, logistics as well as other forms of on-ground support required by the nonagenarian athlete.
Bhagwani Devi’s latest accomplishments earned lots of plaudits on social media, including those from Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union sports minister Anurag Thakur, and Indian boxer Vijender Singh. For the 60m running event, Bhagwani Devi reached her mark in 36.59 seconds. For the shot put event, her best attempt was her first, which registered 2.93m. And for the discus throw event, she managed a distance of 4.67m.
With four international gold medals to her name in total, Bhagwani Devi now has her sights set on bringing more glory to India at the Asian Masters Athletics Championship, scheduled to take place in the Philippines this November.
