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Bhubaneswar: Compliments have started pouring in for ace Odia woman sprinter Dutee Chand after she qualified for the Rio Olympics with a career best timing of 11.30 seconds in 100-metre sprint in the XXVI International Meeting G.Kosanov Memorial in Almaty in Kazakhstan today and became the third woman athlete from Odisha after Rachita Panda-Mistry and Anuradha Biswal and the 99th Indian to achieve the historic feat.
The Rio Games is scheduled to begin from August 5 and conclude on August 21.
“I am very happy to know that my daughter has qualified for the Olympics. She has done the hard work. I have always prayed to God to bless my daughter to bring laurels for her motherland and he has listened to my prayer,” Akhuji Chand, Dutee’s mother, told OTV.
Dutees’s eldest sister Saraswati Chand said she was confident that her sister would fulfill her expectations. “I am happy that my dream has been fulfilled as Dutee has finally earned a berth for the Rio Olympics,” she added.
Dutee’s coach NIlamadhav Deo said at the time of her admission in the Sports Hostel, she was practicing 400 metre and 800 metre race. “But I persuaded her to concentrate on 100 and 200 metre run and trained her accordingly. She fulfilled my expectations as she won several national and international events. I am extreme happy that an Odia woman has qualified for Rio Olympics. As a former student of mine, I wish her all success,” he said.
In her reaction, former Odia woman sprinter and Olympic qualifier Anuradha Biswal said the self confidence of an athlete grows substantially when he/she gets mentally prepared to compete with top athletes. “I wish Dutee to do exceedingly well and let her keep her self-confidence high.”
