Sprinter Dutee Chand sets her eye on Tokyo Olympics

BHUBANESWAR: After finishing 7th in the 100 metre race in Rio Olympics on Saturday, sprinter Dutee Chand said she has her eyes fixed on the next edition of Olympics. "I have no reason to get disheartened. It was a great learning experience. I am only 20 and age is on my side. I will concentrate on my preparations keeping in mind the next Olympic," Dutee told TOI.

Dutee clocked 11.69 seconds to complete the 100 metre race while her personal best was 11.24 seconds. She secured 50th position after round one of 100 metre.

Dutee, who represented India in 100 metres event after 36 years, blamed bad weather, timing of the event and long travel hours for her 'poor' performance at Rio.

"I am happy that I did my hundred percent. But there were so many factors that work during the performance. My body probably could not get acclimatized to the conditions. It was just not my moment…but I thank you all for trusting and having faith in me," she added.

Social media sites are filled with applaud and praise for Dutee and her fans encouraged her for better performance next time. Some of the messages include, 'Better luck next time dutee no excuse for tokyo2020olympics', 'Better luck next time. You are an amazing athlete', 'She is among the top 50 fastest women and we must be proud of her,' 'we always think about our cricketers but when Olympic comes why our athletes not wining. Reason is we never encouraged them' and so on.

However, Dutee's sister and sprinter

Saraswati Chand

is quite disappointed with her performance. "The 100 meter sprint is the most prestigious event contested by the athletes all over the world. The leading athlete in the event is considered to be the fastest woman of the world. World's noted women sprinters English Gardner and

Tori Brown

of the USA, Jamaica's

Elaine Thompson

and many famous women sprinters have superb timing. It's a really big disappointment for all of us, especially because she failed to clock her best timing in the 100 meter race in Rio," said Saraswati.

All her fellow villagers were glued to TV sets on Saturday morning when she was on the tracks. "There is no point in repenting what has already happened. We must encourage and pray for her next events," said her father Chakradhar Chand.

Vice-president of Jajur district athletic association Nigamananda Mohanty said, "She is a gifted and immensely talented athlete. Even she is being compared with legendary P.T. Usha. She is the pride of Odisha. We hope in future she will win medal for India in international sports".

After Dutee's ouster now all eyes are on Odia sprinter Srabani Nanda, who will run in 200 metre race on August 15. Dutee wishes her all success. "I sincerely pray God that Srabani must get a medal and make all of us proud."