chandigarh locked at the national institute of sports patiala during the course of the monthlong nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic star sprinter hima das does miss being with her family but the rigours of being an international athlete has taught the assam girl to keep herself focused for the ultimate goal of being an olympic medallistwhile she refuses to delve into the changes in the international sporting calendar forced by the pandemic she is happy that the postponement of the tokyo olympics to 2021 will give her more time to prepare and hopefully qualify for the showpiece eventexcerpts from an interviewwhat are you doing to keep yourself distracted in such an unprecedented situation is this lockdown mentally challengingyes this is a global pandemic its been a tough time for people and its no different for me i try to look at everything with a positive perspective so i have been using this to keep myself fit and explore my hobbies such as cooking painting singing playing gameshow do you see the postponement of the olympics from a personal point of view well the decision taken by the international olympic committee is only keeping in view of the athletes health of each and every athlete is very important so i respect the decision like all other athletesthe world athletics has recently suspended the qualification period for tokyo games from april 6 to november 30 which means if you take part in any event before that it wont be counted is that a setback for many athletes like you who are yet to qualifyits better to ask our coaches and federationswe are here to train and work hardthat we will dohows that back injury of yours have you fully recovered yes i have recovered well from the injury it had been bothering me for a while but my coaches support staff athletics federation of india and sports ministry have supported me through my rehab process very well a lot of credit goes to them i feel 100 per cent fit nowunder normal circumstances the qualifiers would have been held by now or atleast till june in such a scenario do you feel the extended time frame will work in your advantageindeed it gives us more time to prepare and i am trying to utilise this time to the best of my ability even in lockdown i am working hard on my fitness and trying to be discipline with my diet and sleep etc being locked indoors what kind of training do you do daily i try and do yoga meditation and fitness work in my room as much as i can athletes hardly get time to spend with their families due to their busy schedule but this lockdown has allowed many to stay with their own people how difficult is it for you to stay so far from your familyi moved away from home as a teenager when i shifted from dhing to guwahati to pursue my dreams of representing