Know Your Asian Games Girls — Sprinter Dutee Chand

Eagerly eyeing the tracks at the Jakarta Asian Games, is Dutee Chand our ace sprinter. Dutee got the go-ahead for Asiad after clocking 23.41 seconds in the women’s 100m event in the National Inter State Athletics Championships in June this year.

Here's why you should know more about this star runner.

How Running Happened

Born in Chakagopalpur of Odisha, Chand started off running when she was just four years old. She credits her sister, Saraswati Chand, for the inspiration. Saraswati, also an athlete, would take Dutee with her to training sessions at the local track. She was instantly hooked and started running. Chand was 10 when she began training in India’s National programme. Initially, she used to train barefoot.

She claimed the nickname ‘Nano’ after winning the car by Tata for her outstanding performance in the 2013 school nationals.

At 17, Chand became the top sprinter in the country, winning 100m at the Ranchi Senior National games. After winning many nationals, she became the first woman to represent India in the finals of a 100m sprint in a world event in 2012.

Career Highlights

• Dutee won twin gold medals at the 2014 Asian Junior Athletics Championships.
• The Odisha sprinter became the first Indian woman athlete in 36 years to qualify for the 100m event in the Olympics after PT Usha competed in the 100m and 200m at the 1980 Moscow Games.
•  India’s ace woman sprinter qualified after clocking a record time of 11.30 seconds at the XXVI International Meeting G.Kosanov Memorial in Kazakhstan in June by clocking 11.30 seconds in the women’s 100m race. With that, she also managed to better her own national record.
• This 20-year-old runner led the women’s relay team, which smashed the 18-year-old national record with their sprint at IAAF World Challenge in Beijing. They made it to the 4th position in the competition and that gave them the ticket to Rio. The last time an Indian relay team reached an Olympic final was 12 years ago in Athens.

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Chand faced a fair share of controversy as well. Dutee Chand had been banned for a considerable amount of time from competing in events (including the Glasgow Commonwealth Games) in 2014, after a controversial hormone test which revealed excessive amounts of androgens (a condition known as hyperandrogenism).

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Meanwhile, she challenged the hyperandrogenism verdict in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and in a landmark legal verdict, on July 25, 2015, the ruling was overturned and since then she has gone from strength to strength. Post the ban, she continued her training at Gopichand Badminton Academy.

Going Strong

In the latest, the 22-year-old broke her 100m national record to become the fastest woman on the final day of the 58th National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships. She also clinched the gold in the final, becoming one of the crucial gold medal contenders for the ongoing Asian Games.

SheThePeople.TV wishes all athletes best of luck at the upcoming Asian Games

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Feature Image Credit: Indiawest.com

Read More Stories By Ria Das