Fed Cup Athletics: Dutee scorches the track

NEW DELHI: Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand stole the limelight with a scorching run to set a new national record in women's 100m in the Federation Cup athletics here on Thursday. Statemate Amiya Mallick too set a national mark, in the men's 100m semi-finals, but missed out on winning the gold medal. Dutee, who has had her share of upheavals in the past, having to fight her way back to the track after winning a court case against the international body (IAAF) following her ouster from the sport due to a hyperandrogenism charge, missed out an Olympic berth by a 100th of a second on Thursday.
But she was still happy with the effort.The 11.33 seconds that she returned was enough to eclipse the existing record of 11.38 secs set by Rachita Mistry 16 years back.
"I could not qualify for Rio Olympics here but I am not disappointed by that. I am extremely happy that the national record is mine now. It is very early in the season, it's the first meet and I have three more months (and a minimum of three events) to make the grade for Rio Olympics," Dutee said later.
The qualification mark for Rio Games for women is 11.32 secs, and for men 10.16 secs.
She was quick off the block and took control of the race before completely dominating the field to take home the gold medal. "Everyone on the circuit knows that the start off the blocks is my strongest point and that helped me here as my body was still a bit stiff in the final burst," she explained. It did, for Dutee was pushed to the limit by her statemate and fierce rival Sarbani Nanda, who was favourite to win the gold. Trailing in at third, Sarbani squeezed past HM Jyothi, representing Canara Bank, at the finish to take silver with 11.45secs. "It was a very good race," Sarbani gushed later, "This is what we athletes look for, competition in a run that pushes us. With me and Dutee that always happens. It showed in the national record today."
Dutee later reflected on her ups and downs that preceded Thursday's national record run. "There are good times and bad times. That was a tough phase and I am glad it's behind me now," she said.
Making a return to the track was 30-year-old Pinki Pramanik too. She finished seventh.
In the men's, it was heartbreak for Mallick as the sprinter had high hopes of making the cut. An extraordinary day for the athlete from Odisha was spoiled due to pulled muscle during the semi-finals. Such was his form that he set a new meet record in the heats with 10.35 in the morning before improving the timings to 10.26 sec to set a national record in the semi-finals despite pulling a muscle during the race. The earlier record was jointly held by AN Quereshi and Anil Kumar at 10.30.
The injury affected his performance in the final as he finished fourth at 10.51. Jyotishankar Debnath took the gold at 10.41.
"This will happen (when) you have three races in a day," said a disappointed Mallick after the race. "I may not be in a position to participate in the next qualifying event in Patiala on May 7," added the athlete who ran the race with the affected area heavily strapped.
Debnath, who won the race, said he was not sure of making it to the final after lying low with a bout of cold. "I ran badly in the semi-final. I was not feeling well. But I was confident of doing well once I reached the final," said the runner from Tripura who's representing Bihar in the competition.
Though no one clinched an Olympic berth in the nine events on Thursday, star thrower Inderjeet Singh of Haryana came up with an average show in shot put with a distance of 19.17m to settle for silver. Inderjeet, though, has already qualified for the Olympics. The gold was won by Tejinderpal Singh Toor of ONGC with a 19.93m effort.
Earlier in the day, L Suriya of Tamil Nadu set a new meet record in women's 5000m when she finished with 15:39.59 to take the gold. The men's 5000m gold was claimed by G Lakshmanan, also of Tamil Nadu. He had a timing of 13:51.29. Tamil Nadu's Suresh Arumugam took the 110m men's hurdles gold at 14.33 while the women hurdles result was declared null and void after only two runners took part in it.
Uttar Pradesh's Sarita Prakash won the women's hammer throw with an effort of 61.81m while MA Prajush of Kerala won the women's long jump with a 6.30m effort. Men's pole vault was won by Tamil Nadu's J Preeth at 4.95 m while UP's Vipin Kasana won the javelin gold with a throw of 76.42m.
PINKY RETURNS
New Delhi: On a day Dutee Chand consigned the travails of a hyper-androgenism case to the dustbin with a national record in the women's 100m, sharing similar space, even a similar predicament though not the same end, was Pinki Pramanik. Grabbing focus with her first major return to the track, the 30-year-old from West Bengal finished seventh but was typically defiant and confident that she would make the grade for Rio yet. She will also take part in her per event 400m and 800m, she said.
Four years ago, Pramanik was accused of rape by a female colleague which led to medical tests to determine her gender. Whether she could have committed the alleged crime or not could not be established conclusively even after several private tests and a court-directed chromosome pattern test.
"Nobody supported me when my life was in crisis. I was left alone. But I was determined that I would come back to athletics," Pramanik said here.