Universiade gold medal is truly special for me, says Dutee Chand
Getty
After winning the gold medal in the 100m event at the World University Games, Dutee Chand has said that the run was a âtruly specialâ one for her. She also called the final race of the Universiade 2019 as a âcloseâ one because the difference between the gold and the silver medal was only one second.
Dutee Chand clocked 11.32 seconds in the final of the 100m sprint event at the Summer World University Games and became the first Indian to win a gold medal at the event. There were a lot of debates and discussions before her participation in the Games regarding her personal life but the sprinter left aside everything and gave her best to claim top spot on the podium.
After winning the medal and creating history, the Odisha-born athlete expressed her happiness and said that âWorldâ tag is invaluable in any athleteâs career.
âThis is truly special given the backdrop I entered this event. And more so because it gives me the tag of âWorldâ which is so important and invaluable for any athlete,â Dutee told Sportstar.
Dutee is only the second Indian sprinter to win a gold medal at a global event after Hima Das, who had won the 400m race at the World Junior Athletics Meet in 2018. Meanwhile, the champion athlete has informed that she was not expecting a gold medal in a closely-fought final race.
âHonestly, I was expecting a third or a fourth place in my second appearance in these Games. But, when I qualified for the final, I decided to give it all and it was a very close race separating me with the silver medallist (Del Ponte of Switzerland 11.33) by just one second,â the 23-year-old athlete said.
âKuch nahi tha. Kyon ki mere University log to medal nahi laye tho bhi kuch nahi kahinge (no pressure at all, for I knew that the University people would not say anything even if I didnât win any medal. But the desire to come up with something special was there certainly as I am preparing for the Doha World championship later this year.âÂ
Chandâs coach Nagapuri Ramesh explained about the drills which Chand went through during her training session in Hyderabad before travelling to Italy for the games. Ramesh termed her achievement as something âreally remarkableâ.Â
âSee, in sprints, a champion is one who knows when to accelerate and when to relax without reducing the speed. She is really good off the blocks. This is the reason why I made her go through the drills of speeding upto 30m and then relax for 20 m with cones on the track and this seemed to have worked really well,â Ramesh explained.
âHonestly, I feel happy for her, for this is history as an Indian woman athlete winning 100 m god in World University Games is something really remarkable.â
Chand has now qualified for the semi-finals of the 200m event at the Games by clocking a timing of 24.08 seconds in the first round.
