Dredge up old gold, it's a golden strategy

Last Saturday, a tweet from the handle of Pegasus (no relation to the Pegasus spyware) showed a glorious sporting video - that of a women's 400 m final race in which athlete Hima Das is tactically pacing herself and then coming in from behind to breast the tape in 51.46 seconds. Das' quarter-mile run-to-sprint is a joy to watch, especially when international track and field gold is so hard to come by for India. Like many Indians overjoyed to see Das' stupendous feat, Virender Sehwag also retweeted Pegasus' original clip - Das' gold medal-winning run at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Britain. There was only one problem: it was Das' superb achievement at the World Under-20 Championships in Athletics in Tampere, Finland - in 2018.

Sehwag and many others embarrassed by their 'faux-hundred metres' pas deleted their retweets, once they realised that athletics events at the Commonwealth Games start only today and Hima's run starts from August 3. Mistakes happen, and 'fake news' isn't always malice-driven. But this blooper does give us an idea: why not dredge up pride-making things from the past and spread them as if they happened today? It can make people in these uneasy times happy. Meanwhile, we wish Hima Das all the best for tomorrow when her quest for CWG 400 m gold starts in earnest.