With eye on Tokyo Olympics, Dutee Chand to train abroad
MUMBAI: Dutee Chand on Wednesday said she’s aiming to touch the 11-second mark at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and will head out of the country to train given the lack of competition here.
“There are no better fighters than me in India. Moreover, there are just a handful of events that go on in the country — Senior Federation Cup, Senior Nationals and the state meet. So, working for just these three competitions, and given that there’s a lack of good fighters, the timings are not coming (along).
“Now with the state (Orissa) government declaring that it would help by funding preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, I will head out of the country and participate in bigger competitions to get a better timing,” she said at a promotional event.
Dutee, who improved on her national record to clock 11.29s in June, bagged silver in 100m and 200m at the Jakarta Asian Games. On both occasions, she finished behind Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong.
“When I ran alongside her (Edidiong), I had no clue that she is an outsourced athlete. She seemed new to me since I’ve participated in Asian and World Championships but had never met her. My targets were Kazakhstan’s Olga Safronova and Viktoriya Zyabkina because they always used to beat me,” said Dutee. At the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar last year, she had finished third behind the Kazakh duo.
Dutee has a long way to go even if she manages to trim her timing to the 11s mark to be a medal prospect for the 2020 Olympics. Elaine Thompson, the reigning Jamaican 100m Olympic champion, had clocked 10.71s to take gold in Rio 2016.
While Dutee sounded confident, she lamented the lack of competition at home. “In 100m, if there’s someone running in front, it acts as an extra motivation to go past that athlete. In India, there are athletes who’re clocking around 11.6-11.7s. Hence, running with them won’t help me achieve a timing around the 11s-mark,” she said.
“I’ll head out and train for the Tokyo Olympics. Once I train with sprinters outside the country, they’ll guide me on my mistakes and where I should improve. Also, I need to work on my strength training because there’s not much regarding that in India.”