Dutee Chand rises from the abyss to clinch her second silver of the Asian Games 2018, by finishing second in 200-metre final
India's Dutee Chand competes in the women's 200m final in Jakarta yesterday. Pic/PTI
Having risen from the abyss, India sprinter Dutee Chand's name can now be taken in the same breath as that of India's legendary sprinter PT Usha. Dutee became one of the few female athletes from the country to have won more than one medal at the same edition of the Asian Games when she clinched silver in the 200m event yesterday, to add to her 100m silver a couple of days earlier.
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PT Usha had won a record four gold medals at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games (200m, 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay). However, Dutee's journey to the top has been much tougher than probably any other athlete of this generation. Thrown out of the 2014 Asian Games contingent under the IAAF's hyperandrogenism policy, she fought and won a lengthy legal battle and returned to clinched glory four years later.
Yesterday, at the GBK Stadium here, Dutee clocked 23.20 seconds for second place, behind Bahrain's African import Edidiong Odiong (22.96s).Dutee was grateful to God for having finally put her out of the miserable phase, where her sexuality was questioned. "I am very proud to have won two medals at a single Games. This is all due to my hard work and God's grace. The Almighty has given me a lot of trouble from 2014 to 2017, so now he is giving me medals in a heap," she said with a smile.
Dutee also thanked Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who announced a reward of R1.5 crore, after her silver medal-winning effort in the 100m dash two days ago. "Such a huge amount for an Indian athlete has never been heard of before, so I am very grateful to our chief minister. It will serve as an encouragement for me to work harder in the future," she signed off.
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