New Delhi: Two Odia sprinters Srabani Nanda and Amiya Mallick won gold on the first day of the 1st Indian Grand Prix which began at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Sunday.
In the women’s 100 metre run, Srabani won gold with a timing of 11:23 seconds, Amiya emerged winner in the men’s 100 metre dash with a timing of 10:09 seconds.
Though both the Odisha sprinters overcame the qualifying timing of 11.32 seconds for women’s event and 10.16 seconds for men’s event respectively, doubts are raised on the prospects of these two athletes and other athletes who have qualified in their respective events, in the participation of the Olympic games.
Reports said the organisers of the tournament used hand timer to record the timing of the athletes instead of using electronic timer.
As per rules, electronic timer is accepted for the qualifying events for the Olympic games.
Now the question is, while the Grand Prix event is being held to select the athletes for the Rio Olympics, why the event organisers decided to use the hand timer despite being aware of the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not accept it?
A number of well-known athletes are participating in the event to clinch qualification berths for the Rio Olympic Games which will be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil from August 5 to 21.