Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand urges the federation to not only pay attention to 400 meters and 800m but give equal preference to 100m and 200m racers.
The 20-year-old feels if the sprinters from 100m and 200m categories are also sent abroad for training, their levels will only improve.
“The federation is not focusing on 100m much. They have been giving focus on 400m. For 400m racers, they have been going to foreign, but those who are state medallist and national record holders in 100m are kept in India only. That is why we are not able to perform to our best. If I go to foreign, I also will be able to yield good results,” she said on the sidelines of the GAIl Indian Speedstar event.
“Federation should not only focus on 400m and 800m. They should look in short races also. If they give attention to 100m and 200m, we will perform well and get medals for our country,” she added.
last Monday, a 38-member Indian track and field team — mainly comprising 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400 relay sprinters in men as well as women — from India left for Poland for training.
No Indian women have qualified for the 100m dash at Olympics, since the new qualifying standards were introduced.
However, the history hasn’t put her off from dreaming for a place in the 100m category. “Yes for a while no female has qualified for the Olympics in the 100m from India but nothing is same for long,” said a confident Dutee. “100m and 200ms are my priorities but for the Olympics I am more focused on 100m.”
She got her dream almost fulfilled last month when she came within one-hundredth of a second of qualifying for Rio.
On the first day of the 20th Federation Cup National Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Chand finished first with a timing of 11.33 seconds, which was just outside the 11.32 qualifying standard for the Summer Games. In the process, she also broke the 16-year-old national record, which was previously held by Rachita Mistry with 11.38 seconds.
“Yes, I am a little disappointed but I cannot hold on to that. And I am sure that I will qualify for the Rio Olympics. I still have 2-3 chances to prove myself,” she said.
“There were some things which didn’t go my way as I thought it would. My speed was not up to the mark but I will practice harder to earn the Olympic quota,” she explained.
Nonetheless, she is confident of reaching Rio in the upcoming tournaments. “My target is 11.20 seconds and Olympic qualification is 11.32 seconds and in China I am sure that I will qualify. I will be going to China on 16th May. I will be playing at Taipei on 19th May and then will go back to Beijing on 21st May,” she added.
Odisha rules the nation
Dutee, who is currently training in Hyderabad, was also happy to see another Odisha athlete Amiya Kumar Mallick breaking the national record in men’s 100m sprint by clocking 10.26 secs in the Federation Cup last month, bettering the earlier national mark of 10:30secs set by Abdul Najeeb Qureshi in 2010.
“I am very happy that Odisha has so many sprinters. Even Rachita is from Odisha. But apart from us there are many more that don’t have the proper facilities and support. Imagine if they get the support properly how many sprinters India will haveIJ” she quipped.
She also revealed the secret behind the success enjoyed by the Odisha sprinters. “From childhood, when we used to go to school, we go by running. In cities if one has to drop their kid to school, they will go in their car and bikes but we had run to our school and now you can see the benefits of it.”
Two years ago, Chand’s dreams of representing India at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games came crashing down when an indefinite ban was imposed on her, barring her from taking part in women’s competitions due to her higher levels of testosterone (hormones primarily produced by male).
But the 20-year-old did not give up and in July last year she won the landmark ‘gender case’ at the Court of Arbitration for Sports against the world athletics governing body IAAF. When asked if being away from the sport for nearly a year had an impact on her timings, she replied: “In 2014, I was performing well and because of that I couldn’t train properly and yes it affected my schedule and other things.”