Dutee Chand secures Tokyo Olympics qualification, to race in 100m and 200m events

It’s official! Dutee Chand is going to Japan. The ace India sprinter has sealed Tokyo Olympics qualification in the 100m and 200m events courtesy of World Rankings quota on Wednesday.

22 spots were available in 100m and 15 spots in 200m via the World Rankings route. Chand’s overall position of World No. 44 in 100m and World No. 51 in 200m were well within the ranks to make her eligible to fly to Tokyo next month.

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Chand failed to secure a direct Olympic berth in her last race after finishing in the fourth position in the women’s 100m during the 60th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships.

However, just last week, she set a new national record in the women’s 100m event with a staggering time of 11.17 second, missing the Olympic qualification time by just 0.02 seconds.

Elsewhere, India’s Dhing Express, Hima Das failed to book her berth for Tokyo 2020 via the World Rankings quota. Last week she fell short of securing the direct qualification as her best timing of 22.88s came in the Indian Grand Prix 4. Hima missed the 200m qualifying mark by 00.08 seconds.

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Earlier on Tuesday, the Sports and Youth Services Department (DSYS), Government of Odisha, recommended Dutee Chand for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

Apart from Dutee, the Odisha government also sent five other recommendations to the sports ministry, said an official here.

“I’m thankful to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik for nominating my name for the Khel Ratna Award. May your blessing always be upon me,” Dutee said on Twitter.

(With inputs from ANI)