Dutee Chand confident of achieving Olympic qualification mark

The sprinter, who broke own national record in 100m, will get another shot at the mark in inter-State event.

Hyderabad: Sprinter Dutee Chand on Monday broke her own national record in the 100m event with a timing of 11.17 seconds bettering the previous timing of 11.22 seconds. But she fell agonisingly 0.02 seconds short of Olympic qualification timing of 11.17 seconds, at the Indian Grand Prix in Patiala.

However, in two days’ time, she will get another shot at the Olympic qualification mark when the 60th national inter-State athletics championship kicks off in Patiala on Friday. The recent performance helped her jump a rung to 42 in the women’s 100m rankings in the world. The top 56 in the list are eligible to compete in the Tokyo Games. The rank more or less seals Dutee’s place in Olympics as the cut-off date for the Olympic trials is June 29.

Speaking on her record-breaking performance, Dutee said it was a result of hard work she has put in since November. “We had good preparations coming into this event. Our training started in November where we worked on endurance. And from January, we started working on my speed and on improving timing. We also were focused on diet and rest. All these things helped me put an improved show here,” she said.

When asked about missing the Olympic qualification mark by a whisker, “Even in 2016, the qualification mark for the Olympics was 11.30 seconds and I did 11.31 seconds at the Federation Cup and missed it marginally. But I achieved it later and participated in the Rio Games. I am confident of achieving it in the Inter-State meet. There is not much time left, but I am hoping to put on an improved show,” she added.

Dutee, who failed to advance beyond the heats in the Rio Olympics, is counting on her experience to do better in Tokyo Games. “I have the experience of competing in the Olympics and I learnt a lot about training. The Olympics will be tough with top athletes around the world. I want to give my best and try to reach finals this time,” she said.

The Indian women’s 4x100m relay team, comprising Dutee, star athlete Hima Das, S Dhanalakshmi and Archana Suseendran, also broke a five-year-old record by clocking 43.37 seconds bettering the timing of 43.42 seconds. However, the performance failed to earn them a place in the top 16 list that would allow them to compete in Tokyo. They moved to 20th spot after this effort.

“We did a very good race in the relay, breaking a five-year-old record. We have the chance to break the 42.98 seconds mark. But we do not have tough competition. If we get big competition and are pushed during the race, we will achieve it,” she explained. Athletics coach Nagapuri Ramesh expressed satisfaction with Dutee’s performance. “We need to achieve either the Olympic qualification timing of 11.15 seconds or she should be among 56 ranked athletes. She is currently 42. So she is in the race for the Olympics. She also has a chance to achieve the timing during the upcoming inter-State meet.”

Speaking about the relay team’s chances, he said, “If the relay team had gone to Poland for World Relays, they would have made the cut. But the German airlines refused to take Indian passengers on board and we had missed a golden chance. The eight finalists in the Poland event automatically made the cut and our Indian team would have achieved this as the timing there in the final was 44.34 seconds, which our team achieved easily here. They need a good race and tough opponents who can push them in the race in the upcoming inter-State event,” he concluded.

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