Press Trust of India
Bangalore, July 9: Rio-bound Indian sprinter Dutee Chand said Saturday that she is working hard to improve her speed and endurance so that she doesn’t taper off in the last 40 metres of the 100m event during next month’s Olympics.
“I am very good in first 60 metres, but my speed slows down in the last 40 metres dash. I agree. I have to improve on my speed endurance, and I am working on it. Ramesh sir (coach N Ramesh) is giving lot of attention on it and I am also reciprocating it,” Dutee told reporters here.
Dutee became the first Indian woman athlete in 36 years to qualify for 100 metres race in an Olympics after legendary PT Usha competed in the blue-riband event in the 1980 Moscow Games.
Dutee, however, stated that it would not be easy for her to win a medal because the world standard sprinters are improving daily.
“It is not easy to win the medal because times have changed, and there is a lot of competition, besides athletes’ performances has been improving over the years,” she pointed out.
Dutee said her rivalry with Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Zyabkina, a semifinalist at World Championships in Beijing last year has helped her improve.
“Look, in India I do not have any competition from any sprinter. Running against Viktoriya has helped me improve and there has been a definite progress in my timing,” informed the Oriya sprinter.
N Ramesh, praised the Orissa sprinter, and stated that she has the fighting spirit of a lioness, which stems from the hardships she faced in various stages of life, including the harsh ban imposed on her for having higher level of testosterone than was permissible in a woman athlete.
“She is like a lioness. The good the competition, the better is her performance. She has been bettering her performance from the junior level till the international competition where she qualified for Rio Olympics. That is her range. So, wherever she goes she fights like a lioness,” Ramesh told reporters.
Ramesh informed that in his 20 years of coaching stint, he hasn’t seen any athlete more passionate about running than Dutee. “She is an athlete who likes to compete rather than train. In fact competition brings out the best in her,” Ramesh pointed out.
“People may run for winning but she runs for life. For one-and-a-half year she did not have any training, and was uncertain of her future, and amidst this speculations were rife about her losing job. In spite of all these, she won the legal battle, and came back to qualify for Rio Olympics. It just speaks volumes about her character,” Ramesh added.