Quotes from Hima Das

Whatever the rules are, we have to follow them. I have no problem with it.

My role model was Sachin Tendulkar as a kid. I feel very proud that I have been able to follow his footsteps and become a UNICEF ambassador like him.

I'm not comparing it with cricketers who get huge money. But getting some financial benefits do motivate players, especially athletes. I appreciate this move by the state government. A state like Haryana has been producing more and more players because of such motivations.

Everything happens at one step at a time.

Even Sachin used to get ducks during his career. There are ups and downs in every athlete's career.

I hope I will get a chance to compete in the Olympics.

I know my family's condition and how we struggled. But the Almighty has something for everybody.

I live in a joint family with 17 members under one roof. My father is an MA, but he didn't get a job, because all his certificates got destroyed when our house caught fire. So my father took up farming - fish farming and vegetable farming.

I am a low-key girl from a middle-class family of a small village.

I am still the same village girl from Dhing who used to help my father in the paddy field, help mother in household chores, run for hours on the streets of Dhing, play football with my Mon Jai group friends.

I used to play everything, but people in my village said football is in my blood because my father has been a footballer.

Our village is very small, so I wasn't surprised when I heard some negative comments from my neighbours on my interest in sports. But nothing mattered, as I always knew what I was doing and why I was doing it.

I used to run barefoot in my village some time back. Now, I have a branded shoe with my name on it.

People expect a lot for me now, and I will achieve that.

I don't worry about timings or what somebody else is doing in another lane.