Ace sprinter Dutee Chand’s car, which was presented to her by the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in 2013, was set on fire by unidentified miscreants at her native Gopalpur village in Jajpur district on Sunday night.
Her family members found the vehicle, which was kept near the house, to be torched on Monday morning. Her father has lodged an FIR in this regard at the Kuakhia police station, reports said.
The incident has saddened Dutee, who is currently representing India at the Asian Grand Prix-2017 in China and has won a bronze medal in the women’s 100-metre race by clocking 11.59 seconds.
The car held importance for Dutee as it was the first four-wheeler to be presented to her as prize in her athletic career. At that time, she had faced a lot of difficulties to bring the vehicle to Odisha and was eventually helped by the Odisha Cricket Association’s former secretary Asirbad Behera.
Dutee had earned laurels to the State as well as for the nation when she qualified for the Rio Olympics by clocking 11.30 seconds to finish a 100-metre race at the XXVI International Meeting G Kosanov Memorial in Almaty, Kazakhstan last year.
However, she failed to qualify for the 100-metre sprint semifinal in the Rio Olympics last year as she finished 7th in her heat clocking a timing of 11.69 seconds.