World Athletics Championships | Dutee Chand eyes personal best timing to qualify for finals
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Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has set herself a target of reaching the finals of the women’s 100m dash at the World Championships starting in Doha on September 27 and improving her personal best timing of 11.26s. She is, however, not yet eyeing the 11.15s qualification mark for the Tokyo Olympics.
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has set herself an objective of reaching the finals of the women’s 100m dash at the World Championships starting in Doha on September 27 with a personal best timing. “I hope to run my best in Doha, that is my target,” she told the PTI.
At the 2017 London World Championships, Chand failed to reach the semifinals after running a disappointing 12.07s in the heats. “I could not reach the semifinals last time but I am hoping to reach the finals this time. It will not be easy but I will be really happy if I do that,” said Dutee, who is determined to make amends.
The 23-year-old athlete received an invite from the IAAF to participate at the world meet after she could not achieve the qualification mark of 11.24s, but was among the maximum target number of competitors for the event after she recorded a personal best effort of 11.26s, which is also the national record, during the Asian Championships in Doha in April.
Chand, who has been training at night to match her race timings in Doha believes her “preparations are going well” and she looks forward to what will happen in Doha. She will run in the women’s 100m heats on September 28 at 4:30 pm local time and 7 pm Indian time at the main event in Doha. She, however, is not eyeing the Tokyo Olympics qualification mark of 11.15s at the World Championships as she feels she is not yet ready.
“It is the end of the season and I have run a lot of races this year. So, I have to see how far I can push my body to run faster. It will be difficult to run that mark (11.15). It is not only for me but for other athletes also,” said Chand.
Chand has participated in 15 competitive races this season (3 Indian Prix, 3 in Fed Cup, 3 in National Inter-State, 3 in World Universiade and 3 in Asian Championships). The IAAF World Championships are normally held before August, but in view of the heat in the middle-eastern city of Doha, the event is being pushed to commence late September. Even though the athletes have tweaked their training so as to peak during the showpiece event, the late-season fixture and the heat, which will still be high, may have an impact on the timings of the athletes.
Chand, who became the first Indian to win a 100m gold in a global event during the World University Games in July in Napoli, has been training with her coach N Ramesh at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. She has said that her coach N Ramesh will accompany her to the World Championships and she will bear all his expenses as he is not a member of the official Indian contingent.
