Ace sprinter of India Dutee Chand finished 45th in the Heats of women's 100m on day seven of the Tokyo Olympics to be out of contention for the sprint event on Friday.
Racing alongside the legendary Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the sprint star finished with seventh rank in Heat 5. She got off to a decent start and kept a solid pace but failed to sustain it for long.
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Ivory Coast's Marie-Josee Ta Lou won the Heat with a time of 10.78, setting a new African record. Jamaican sprinters Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finished second and third respectively. In total, 24 athletes qualified for the semis.
Dutee was nowhere near her best as she clocked 11.54 seconds in 100m, well outside her national record of 11.17 seconds which was also her season's best. At the Indian Grand Prix in Patiala this year, Dutee had scripted the new national record.
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Today she finished seventh in heat 5 and 45th overall out of 54 competitors. Going into the Olympics, her primary focus was on improving that time. However, in the Heat, the 25-year old could only manage a time of 11.54 seconds.
As per the regulations, the first three in each of the seven heats and the next three fastest will advance to the semifinals.
Had Dutee completed the race with her best timing of 11.17 seconds, she could have made it to the semifinals as her time of 11.17 seconds would have seen her bettering the times of two of the athletes who got through on the basis of being the next three fastest. Manqi Ge of China and Khamica Bingham of Canada were allowed entry into the semifinals despite finishing with times of 11.20 seconds and 11.21 seconds.
However the pint sized dynamo will have another chance as she has also qualified for the Olympics in 200m race on the basis of world rankings.
The 25-year-old had qualified for Tokyo Olympics on the basis of world rankings after being unable to breach the automatic qualification mark of 11.15 seconds.
(Edited by Suryakant Jena)