Dutee Chand fastest Indian woman at Federation Cup

Hyderabad: Dutee Chand became the fastest woman when she won the women’s 100m sprint in the 21st Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships at Patiala on Sunday.

Dutee clocked 11.48 seconds to take revenge on Odisha’s Srabani Nanda who had earlier beaten her in the 200 m contest. Nanda finished second with a time of 11.57 seconds while Merlin K. Joseph of Kerala took bronze with a time of 11.68 seconds.

Meanwhile, Javelin thrower Anu Rani was the star performer by throwing the spear 61.86 m to break her own national record of 60.01 m in the last event of the competition. In the process Rani, representing Uttar Pradesh qualified for the World Championships in London, the qualifying mark for which was set at 61.40 m. Suman Devi, also of Uttar Pradesh took silver with 55.03 m while K. Rashmi of Karnataka took bronze with 51.12 m.

Prem Kumar won the men’s 110m hurdles, crossing the finish line in 14.34 seconds. He finished ahead of Suresh and T. Balamurugan, both of Tamil Nadu. Suresh clocked 14.35 seconds while Balamurugan claimed bronze with a time of 14.52 seconds. Odisha’s Amiya completed a sprint double adding the 100 m title to the 200 m he had won earlier.