Bhubaneswar: Sprint queen Dutee Chand said Friday she will aim for medals in both the 100m and 200m events at the upcoming Jakarta Asian Games after setting the tracks on fire with a record-breaking feat at National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Guwahati.
Dutee smashed her own national record (NR) in the women’s 100m. The 22-year-old clocked 11.29 seconds to shave off one-hundredth of a second from her earlier national record of 11.30s as she scorched the track in the semifinals. Later on in the evening, Dutee clinched the gold with a time of 11.32 seconds.
Earlier Thursday she had breached the Asian Games qualifying time of 11.67s when she clocked 11.42s in one of the heats.
Friday’s timing has put Dutee on top of the season’s list among the Asians. The gold medal winners in the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games had clocked 11.33s and 11.48s respectively.
“Definitely my target will be two medals at the Asiad,” Dutee said over phone from Guwahati. “I had always said 100m is my first preference, but now with two months still to go, I will certainly try and focus on the 200m also. My coach (Nagapuri) Ramesh Sir has assured me that equal importance would be accorded to both the events.”
When asked whether she would travel abroad to train before the Asiad, she said she preferred training at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad. “There are quite a few who have gone to Jamaica and trained… they can’t even make it to the heats,” Dutee said with a hearty laugh. The sarcasm was not lost; Dutee was referring to a couple of Odia athletes who have been training abroad on a regular basis.
“India is my preferred destination to train. It is while training here that I have created national records,” added Dutee.
She was also quick to point out that she felt good during the build-up to the event. “Look, I had a feeling I would do well here (Guwahati). My body was responding well and ‘kya bhaga maine’ (I really did run well),” she signed off.
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