Srabani follows Dutee into Rio Olympics

Bhubaneswar: Perhaps spurred by the scintillating performance of her mate Dutee Chand who made a historic comeback by qualifying for the Rio Olympics in the 100-metre run yesterday, ace woman sprinter Srabani Nanda stormed into the Rio Olympics after clocking 23.07 seconds in the 200-metre run in the XXVI International Meeting G. Kosanov Memorial at Almaty in Kazakhstan today.

The Olympic qualifying timing for 200 metre run is 23.20 seconds.

With this superlative performance, Srabani became the fourth woman athlete from Odisha after Rachita Panda-Mistry, Anuradha Biswal and Dutee Chand and the 100th Indian to achieve the historic feat.

“This is a proud moment for Odisha”, said chief minister Naveen Patnaik in his congratulatory message to Srabani.

Union Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan also wished good luck to Srabani.

Congratulating Srabani on her sterling performance, Sports and Youth Affairs minister Sudam Marandi announced a cash incentive of Rs 1 lakh for her. He said the state government will provide all assistance to Srabani and Dutee, who have brought laurels for the state.

“I owe my success to the love and goodwill of the people and elders of my state”, Srabani Nanda told OTV over phone soon after qualifying for the Rio Olympics.

Talking to OTV, former Olympian and renowned woman sprinter Rachita Panda Mistry said this is a huge success for Odisha after a long gap. “Judging by the performance of Dutee and Srabani, no one can say that there is dearth of talent in Odisha. I urge the people of my state to repose their trust and extend their unstinting support to these two talented athletes. I will be the happiest person to see both of them in the Olympic final,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Odisha Olympic Association and Odisha Athletic Association have announced a cash award of Rs 50,000 each to Srabani.