Eerie silence at Dutee's village

KENDRAPADA: For a picturesque riverside village, Gopalpur in Jajpur district, is unusually calm. But if you spend a couple of hours in the heart of the village, you will realize that the calm is almost funereal.
Ever since reports were out that excess androgen in Dutee Chand's body had forced her out of the Commonwealth Games, Gopalpur is in mourning.They feel Dutee, the apple of their eyes, has got a raw deal. "I don't know what the Athletic Federation of India (AFI) and Sports Authority of India (SAI) are doing. It is a cruel joke on budding sporting talents," said vice-president of the district athletics association Nigamananda Mohanty.
The ace sprinter herself was fighting tears when TOI spoke to her over phone from Bangalore. "I feel devastated. I was confident of winning medals for the country at the CWG. I was shown the door for some vague reasons. Neither my coach nor any official informed me that I failed to clear the gender test. I only came to know about the cause of disqualification from newspapers," Dutee told this paper.
Dutee was the first Indian woman to reach the last eight of a 100 metre sprint event in the international arena. This she achieved at the World Youth Athletics Championships in Donetsk last year. She won a bronze medal in 200 metres race at the 20th Asian Athletics championships in Pune, Maharashtra.