Life has never been a piece of cake for anyone and India’s star sprinter Dutee Chand has no different story. Born in Gopalpur, Jajpur district of Odhisa to poor weaver parents, Dutee has come a very long way, making the entire Nation proud on her selection in Rio Olympics. Chand is the current National champion in women’s 100 metres event and is supported by Anglian Medal Hunt Company (AMHC).
At the age of 16, Chand was the third woman to qualify for the Summer Olympics after P.T. Usha who had qualified for the 1980 Summer Olympics and Rachita Mistry who had qualified for 2000 Sydney Olympics. Even after such talent and winning so many national as well as international games like a bronze in 200 metres Women’s event in Asian Championship 2012, hard times were waiting ahead of her.
In a speculation of doping, Chand was dropped out of the commonwealth games 2014 at last minute after the Athletic Federation of India stated that her HYPERANDROGENISM made her ineligible to compete as a female athlete. But soon after, the Indian Government appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for lifting a ban from Chand. And in July 2015 the CAS suspended the hyperandrogenism regulation for female track and sports for 2 years stating that there were no sufficient evidence to prove any link between high level of androgen and enhanced performance.
Chand returned to the world of sports almost after a year and had support from every end.
Though Chand missed the first chance of Rio Olympics qualification norm of 11.32 secs by a one-hundredth of a second with her national record of 11.38 secs, on 25th June 2016, she broke the National record twice in a dat after clocking 11.24 secs and thereby qualifying for the Rio Olympics.
Chand was recently felicitated by the Union Minister for Pertoleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan in a ceremony held at his residence in presence of Union minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Vijay Goel.
Chand seems very optimistic about the Rio Olympics and in an Interview stated that she will definitely win an Olympic medal one day.
It won’t be wrong to say that Dutee Chand, as her name also suggests, is really the moon of Indian Sports.