BHUBANESWAR 19-Sep-2015
Competing in her first senior level event after winning a landmark gender case, Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand stole the limelight by bagging a golden treble in the 55th National Open Athletics Championship, held at at SAI Complex in Kolkata from Sept 17 to 19.
Turning out for her employers Railways, Dutee won the tree gold medals in women 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events. She clocked 11.68 seconds in 100m, not very far from her personal best of 11.62. In 200m Dutee took 23.69 seconds to emerge on top. The Railway team, comprising Dutee, her senior statemate Srabani Nanda, Himashree Roy and Merlin Joseph, won the 4x100m relay with a time of 45.92 seconds.
The 19-year-old Dutee had claimed a 100/200m double in Ranchi National Open two years ago and missed the last edition in Delhi as she was banned under `hyperandrogenism’ policy of the world athletics body. After her appeal against this policy was partially upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, she took part in National Junior Federation Cup in Hyderabad last month and won gold in 200m.
The golden treble boosted the chances for Dutee to get government support for a training stint abroad. She may head to Chula Vista High Performance Training Centre in the United States in her bid to make the cut for Rio Olympics 2016. She said she had spoken to Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal who
has assured her of three months foreign training to achieve the Olympic standard.
``I told him (the sports minister) that I need a minimum of three months` foreign training to achieve 23.20s (the qualification standard for Rio 2016) in 200m. I told him I want to go to Chula Vista and he has promised me to send there,’’ Dutee told reporters after winning a triple gold medal. Dutee is currently based at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad and she thanked the former ace shuttler.
Despite not sending a squad for the National Open, Odisha had the credit of winning multiple medals through Dutee, Srabani and Jauna Murmu. Srabani bagged one silver medal each in 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay for Railways. She timed 11.70 seconds in 100m and 23.75s in 200m. Representing employers ONGC, Jauna won gold in 4x400m relay and silver in 400m hurdles with a time of 59.41 seconds.
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PHOTO: Dutee Chand celebrates after winning the 100m sprint gold in the 55th National Open Athletics Championship at Kolkata on Sept 17, 2015.
