Dutee Chand dashes to gold, close to qualifying for the Worlds

Hyderabad: Sprinter Dutee Chand ran the race of her life in the women’s 100 metres to emerge winner in the Indian Grand Prix just .04 seconds adrift of the qualifying mark for the upcoming Athletics World Championshps.

Dutee scorched the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium track to clock 11.30 seconds and take the pride of place on the podium. The qualifying mark for the prestigious athletics Worlds to be held in London in August is 11.26 seconds.

Dutee, who trains in Hyderabad under Dronacharya award-winning coach N. Ramesh, has two more events to make the cut for the Worlds — the Federation Cup from June 1 in Delhi and the Asian Athletics Championships to be held in Bhubaneswar from July 6.

Merline Joseph (11.72 seconds) and Himanshi Roy (11.95) took the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Fed Cup venue moved
Meanwhile, the Federation Cup National Athletics Championships will be shifted to NIS Patiala after the Sports Authority of India denied permission to hold it at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi in view of FIFA U-17 World Cup, Athletics Federation of India said on Monday.

The meet is scheduled to be held from June 1 to 4. A fuming AFI said that the SAI had earlier given the green signal to host the event at JLN but did a u-turn just two weeks before the event.

The bone of contention is the use of throw area inside the football pitch, which will be used for the group matches of the U-17 World Cup in October. AFI wants to use the area, but SAI has refused.

“We decided to host the Federation Cup at the JLN after getting permission from SAI. But now SAI said we cannot use the throw area inside the football pitch. So we are shifting the event to Patiala. The dates will remain the same,” AFI secretary C. K. Valson said.

“Fed Cup is an important event in our calendar and athletes can qualify for the World Championships. So athletes need the best competition area,” he added.