Rachita Mistry Biography 
Rachita Mistry is an Indian athlete and sprinter from Rourkela, Orissa. On 12 August 2000, she set a new National record of 11.38 seconds in 100 metres at National Circuit Athletic Meet held in Thiruvananthapuram, and the record was later broken by Merlin K. Joseph of Kerala in 2013, after 13 years. Rachita set her personal best time of 11.26 s for 100 metres in Bangalore on 5 July 2001, rewriting her record and also breaking P. T. Usha's long standing mark of 11.39 s set during the 1985 Asian Championships in Athletics in Jakarta. She was also a team member along with P. T. Usha, E. B. Shyla, and Saraswati Saha, who won gold at 4 x 100 metres relay at the 1998 Asian Championships in Athletics, setting a new national record of 44.43 s.
Rachita Panda Mistry was born on 4 March 1974 in Rourkela, Odisha. She is one among those rare athletes who own an illustrious career after marriage, post delivering a child. She became a mother in 1995, delivered a baby and then set a national record. Since mid-1990s till mid-2000s, she registered many national records in her name. New National record of 11.38 seconds in 100 metres in year 2000, 200 meter national record on 31 July 2000, at Chennai, with a run of 23.10 seconds breaking the previous record of the legend P. T. Usha, new national record in 4 x 100 metres relay of 44.43 sec at 1998 Asian Championships in Athletics etc are a few to mention.
Mistry was honoured with Arjuna award for her contributions towards field tracks in the year 1998. She moved to a sports hostel at the age of 1., and joined the Asian Games squad as a teen. She just had a single-point focus from childhood - breaking PT Usha’s national 100m record, which she achieved.
Published: October 15, 2018
Updated: October 15, 2018
