Dutee Chand aims to better her 100m best at Olympics

HYDERABAD: India's top sprinter Dutee Chand is gearing up to give her best at the Olympic Games beginning in

Tokyo

on July 23.

Dutee

will participate in the sprint double - 100m and 200m.

The 26-year-old athlete had missed the direct qualification mark by just 0.02 seconds when she clocked 11.17 seconds and set a new national mark in 100m at the Indian Grand Prix (

IGP

) 4 in Patiala in June. That helped her world ranking. Dutee is ranked No. 44 in 100m and 51st in 200m. The rankings sealed her berth.

The Odisha athlete, who trains with coach N Ramesh at the

SAI-Gopichand Academy

here, said she aims to achieve the 11.10 seconds mark at Tokyo. "We are practising at multiple venues here including the Gachibowli Stadium, SAI-Gopichand Academy and the newly-laid synthetic track at

Gaudium International School

. My focus in Olympics will be on my favourite 100m. Depending on weather and conditions, my aim is to run below 11.10s," she told TOI on Wednesday.

Despite the -19 pandemic, Dutee said she was focused on Olympic qualification. "Once the government announced relaxation in October last year, I started practising for the Olympics in Bhubaneswar. After three months there, I shifted to Hyderabad and trained for two months before heading to the national camp in Patiala," she said.

This will be Dutee's second Olympics after the 2016

Rio Games

. She will be leaving for Tokyo on July 21. "The 100m event will start on July 30 and the 200m event on August 2. In 200m, my personal best is 23.00 seconds. But my main focus at the Games will be on 100m. Once I finish 100m, I'll see how it goes," she said.

Ramesh set for third Olympics

For Telangana coach and

Dronacharya

award winner Ramesh, it will be his third Olympics. Ramesh was at the 2000 Sydney and 2016

Rio

Games. At the

Sydney Olympics

, he was the Indian men's hockey team's fitness coach. In Rio he was Dutee's coach.