Saraswati Saha

Who is Saraswati Saha?

Saraswati Dey-Saha is an Indian sprint athlete from West Bengal. She holds the current 200 metres national record of 22.82 seconds set at the National Circuit Athletic Meet held in Ludhiana on 28 August 2002. She broke the previous mark held by Rachita Mistry since July 2000. In doing so, Saraswati became the first Indian woman to break 23-second barrier in 200 metres. The highlight of her career was the gold medal she won at the 2002 Busan Asian Games.

Rachita represented India in 4 x 100 metres relay together with P. T. Usha, E. B. Shyla, and Rachita Mistry at the 1998 Asian Championships in Athletics where her team won the gold medal on way to setting the current national record of 44.43 s. Later in the 4 x 100 metres relay at 2000 Sydney Olympics her team - consisting of V. Jayalakshmi, Vinita Tripathi, and Rachita Mistry - clocked a time of 45.20 s in the first round. The team finished last in their heats. She also competed in 200 m at 2004 Athens Olympics, where she clocked a time of 23.43 s in the heats.

In 2002, she was conferred the Arjuna Award for her contribution to the Indian athletics. Saraswati quit competitive athletics in July 2006 owing to the injury to her achilles tendon, occurred after the Busan Asian Games.