Patiala: National 100 metres record holder and Odia sprinter Dutee Chand will certainly have a job on her hands when she goes for the title in the Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships here Tuesday. She will have lot of competition not only from Hima Das, but from Tamil Nadu’s S Dhanalakshmi who clocked a stunning 11.38 seconds in the heats Monday. It was easy for Dutee Chand in the heats, as she clocked 11.51 seconds to win and qualify for the finals. Hima also booked a final spot with a time of 11.63 seconds.
Annu Rani bettered her own javelin throw national record. However, she still missed the Tokyo Olympics qualification mark by more than half a metre. Rani clinched the gold with a best throw of 63.24m which came in her third attempt, obliterating her earlier national mark of 62.43m which she had recorded during the World Championships in Doha in 2019. The Tokyo Olympics qualification mark for women’s javelin throw is 64m.
Rani led Uttar Pradesh to a three-gold show from four finals on the day. The ball was set rolling by 21-year-old Savita Pal who made her debut 10,000m race a memorable one by sprinting past Sanjvani Jadhav (Maharashtra). Shot putter Kiran Baliyan accounted for the third gold with a 16.45m effort.
In men’s 100m semifinals, Gurindervir Singh (Punjab) set a personal best time of 10.30 seconds. It was the third fastest time by an Indian sprinter behind the 10.21 clocked by Anil Kumar in 2000 and the 10.26 seconds by Amiya Kumar Mallick in 2016 and Sanjeet Singh in 2018.
The seasoned MR Poovamma led the eight qualifiers into the women’s 400m final, powering to victory in 54.34 seconds, the second fastest time this season.