JAKARTA: Star Indian sprinter Dutee Chand capped a great day for India in the track events at the ongoing 18th Asian Games here Sunday, marred though by Govindan Lakshmanan missing Bronze in the men's 10,000 metres category as he was disqualified following an official review.
Chand clinched a Silver in 100m sprint - the blue riband event in women’s track - to win the country’s first medal at the Asian Games in 20 years in the discipline.
Running in lane number 7, Dutee clocked 11.32 seconds, just below her national record of 11.29 seconds.
Odiong Edidiong of Bahrain won the Gold in 11.30 while Wei Yongli of China took the Bronze in 11.33 in a photo finish.
In earlier results that brought great cheer, Muhammed Anas and teenage sensation Hima Das claimed the Silver medals in the men's and women's 400m respectively. National record holder Muhammed completed his run in 45.69 seconds behind Hassan Abdalelah of Qatar in 44.89 seconds while Hima clocked 50.79 seconds in her race coming in second behind an inspired Gold-medal winner Salwa Naser of Bahrain.
The 18-year-old broke the national record twice in two days - first in the heats (51 seconds), then in the final. “It is a Silver but I am not disappointed. I’ve done my bit,” Hima, still out of breath, said moments after the finish.
What makes Dutee's success stand out though, is that this was the first Asian Games for the 22-year-old from Odisha as she was suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 2014 under its flawed hyperandrogenism policy, which was eventually overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) after she filed an appeal.
In a landmark judgment, CAS cleared Dutee Chand to compete in national and international athletics events. The CAS panel, comprising Justice Annabelle Claire Bennett, Professor Richard H McLaren and Dr Hans Nater, suspended the IAAF's hyperandrogenism regulations, which bar athletes with enhanced testosterone levels, such as Dutee, from competing in the women’s category.
India’s last Silver medal in this event was delivered by the legendary PT Usha at the 1986 Games while the last Bronze was won by Rachita Mistry in the 1998 edition.
“I feel like a mother who has just delivered a child after a lengthy labour,” The Hindu quotes Dutee as saying immediately after her race.
Dutee will not get back the meets she missed but she now has a very precious medal.
Dutee also remembered the people who helped her fight her case against IAAF at CAS.
“I’d like to thank Payoshini Mitra, who supported me. If she had not won the case for me, I would not have been here.”
India's medal tally as of Sunday, 26 August:
Gold — 7
Silver — 10
Bronze — 19
Total: 36
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