Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Wednesday threw his weight behind beleaguered athlete Dutee Chand, saying they stand with the sprinter and will strongly pursue her case.
'An athlete is never tension-free,' India's champion athlete tells Rediff.com's Laxmi Negi.
Her coach, N Ramesh, credits a gruelling speed rubber training regimen for the two silver medals at the Games in Jakarta.
Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand got a massive shot in the arm after the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Switzerland specifically allowed her to take part in the Asian Championships.
In her 'gender case' before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, the world's top sports tribunal has suspended IAAF's Hyperandrogenism Policy, under which the AFI suspended Dutee from competitions in 2014.
Avinash Sable shattered his own 3000m steeplechase national record but failed to qualify for the final, while sprinter Dutee Chand produced a below-par performance to make an exit from the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
The Indian mixed 4x400m relay team qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after reaching the final in the World Athletics Championships, in Doha.
Dutee Chand joined her illustrious compatriots such as P T Usha in the list of athletes who have won more than one medal at the Asian Games as she added a silver to her kitty after finishing second earlier in the women's 100m dash, in Jakarta, on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Indian athlete Dutee Chand has been cleared to participate in next year's National Games.
India began their campaign in the World Athletics Championships on a disappointing note with sprinter Dutee Chand and quartermiler Muhammed Anas Yahiya crashing out in the first round heats in London on Saturday.
Sprinter Dutee Chand, who made it to her first Olympics after fighting the odds arising out of a 'gender test', finished a disappointing seventh in her 100m heats on the opening day of athletics event, in Rio de Janeiro, on Friday.
The year-long suffering she faced following the controversial "gender test" in 2014 has hurt promising sprinter Dutee Chand so much so that she still feels that she may get trapped and her resurrected career may be in ruins again. Two years ago, Chand's dreams of representing her country at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games came crashing when an indefinite ban was imposed on her, barring her from taking part in women's competitions due to her higher levels of testosterone (hormones primarily produced by male). Dutee fought the case at the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Switzerland which upheld her appeal, citing no clear cut link with higher levels of these hormones with enhancement in performance. She returned to competitions last year and broke the national record in 100m dash recently. "I'm not able to trust anyone. I am scared that I might get trapped again. I hardly have any friends," Dutee told reporters on the sidelines of the GAIL Indian Speedstar event. "I prefer to train alone at SAI camp in Hyderabad. I don't train at national camp at NIS Patiala. Some of the 4x400 relay members don't like me," she added.
Star Indian sprinter Dutee Chand clinched a silver in women's 100m dash in the 18th Asian Games to win the country's first medal in 20 years in this event.
Left to compete within an hour of reaching here from China, promising sprinter Dutee Chand won the gold in women's 100m sprint event in the Taiwan Open Athletics Championships on Thursday. Dutee competed in the 100m heats within an hour of reaching Taiwan from Beijing and five hours later ran the finals which she won in 11.50secs to bag the gold. Her timing was far below the Olympics qualification standard of 11.32 secs. Long jumper Ankit Sharma leapt 7.67m on his last attempt to also seal a gold medal. Dutee was part of the national record breaking women's 4x100m relay quartet which finished fourth in the IAAF World Challenge event in Beijing yesterday and she few from the Chinese capital to Taiwan where she reached two hours before the start of her event.
Rio Olympics-bound Indian sprinter Dutee Chand said she is working hard to improve her speed endurance so that she doesn't taper off in the last 40 metres of the 100m event during next month's mega-event.
Hima Das shattered the 400m national record for a second time in two days for a silver while Dutee Chand grabbed the second place in 100m dash on another good day for India's track and field athletes at the Asian Games.
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand set a new national record while winning the 60m dash heats at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha on Friday.
The 22-year-old from Odisha has long lived with the condition which naturally produces high testosterone levels and for a year saw her unable to run in International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) competition.
Promising sprinter Dutee Chand bagged her second gold medal, winning the women's 200 metres, in a clean sweep of medals by Indians at the Taiwan Open Athletics Championships, Taoyuan City, Taiwan, on Friday.
Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal welcomed the Court of Arbitration for Sport's decision that allowed Indian sprinter Dutee Chand to resume her career, which was brought to a halt owing to IAAF Regulation on Hyperandrogenism.
Behind sprinter Dutee Chand's rise is a hidden journey filled with pain and hardship.
Through their triumphs and struggles, these athletes have not only rewritten the narrative of women in sports but have also ignited a flame of empowerment and inspiration, asserts Laxmi Negi.
From her battle against the IAAF gender testing rules to coming out as a lesbian in what is still a highly conservative country, Chand is used to making headlines but she hopes over the next year they will mainly be about her sporting prowess.
'These youngsters have proved there is money in sports today, not just cricket!' 'They are youth icons and people look up to them.' 'Our athletes are not scared. Like a child knows no fear, they are youngsters without fear.'
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) chief Sebastian Coe empathises with the plight of Indian sprinter Dutee Chand, whose career has been hit by the controversial 'gender testing' issue, but insists it needs to create a "level-playing field" for all athletes.
The Olympic champion in women's 800m, feels sorry for Dutee Chand since the Indian, just like her, is facing a gender test row.
Case to be re-opened, IAAF to return to CAS
Another gold medal in Paris would further elevate Neeraj Chopra's status as the greatest ever athlete in the history of Indian sport.
Dutee Chand qualified for Rio Olympics in the women's 100m event after meeting the qualification mark at XXVI International Meeting G.Kosanov Memorial in Almaty.
Jyothi Yarraji wins India''s first ever 100m hurdles medal at WUG, breaks her own national record
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amlan Borgohain of Assam and Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh clinched gold in the 100m events.
Railways sprinter Merlin K Joseph smashed the 13-year-old national record in women's 100m race in the semi-finals on Sunday, but could manage only a bronze in the finals on the second day of the 53rd National Open Athletics Championships in Ranchi.
Sanjay Mishra to become new BAI general secretary
Rani had bettered her own national record with a throw of 63.24m during the Federation Cup in March before a performance of 62.83m in the National Inter-State Championships this week.
Rashmi Rocket is both predictable and cliched, but Taapsee gives us an exciting performance, observes Laxmi Negi.
'When the Olympics were postponed last year there were talks of the virus situation improving, but we are going from bad to worst.'
Delhi High Court clears Indian judoka Jasleen to compete at CWG
'If you work with honesty and perseverance, success will surely come to you,' says Dutee Chand as she prepares to make her second Olympic appearance in Tokyo.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances