Team Orisports 13-Aug-2016
Ace Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand put up disappointing performance at the Rio Olympic Games today as she failed to qualify for women`s 100m semifinals after finishing seventh in her heat with a timing of 11.69 seconds.
As per norms, only top two sprinters from each of the eight heats progressed to the semifinal round along with eight other fastest sprinters from all the heats. Dutee’s timing of 11.69 seconds turned out to be the second slowest in her heat. This apart, Dutee stood at 50th spot among all the 64 sprinters of eight heats. Dutee’s career best performance is 11.24 seconds and a repetition of similar timing in today’s event would have qualified her to the semifinals.
"I would have performed better had the event been held in the evening instead of 11 p.m. My practice time was during the evening. But the event was held at 11 p.m, which is my sleeping time," said Dutee in an audio released to the media.
The girl from Jajpur district had qualified for the Olympics by clocking 11.30 seconds to finish a 100 meter race at the XXVI International Meeting G Kosanov Memorial in Almaty, Kazakhstan in June this year. She was the first Indian woman sprinter since PT Usha in 1980 to qualify for the 100m sprint event in Olympics.
Dutee cited several reasons for her lacklustre performance, but expressed hope to do better in 2020 Tokyo Olympics. ``My timing was not good as this was my first participation in Olympics. My body became stiff due to overcast weather here since morning. Travelling for 36 hours also affected my performance,’’ said Dutee in her reaction.
``I would have performed better had the event been held in the evening instead of 11 pm. My practice time was during the evening. But the event was held at 11 pm, which is my sleeping time,’’ added Dutee. The sprinter admitted that she was nervous while on the track since it was her debut in the Olympics.
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PHOTO: Dutee Chand in action at the Olympic Games in Rio on August 13, 2016
