Tokyo Olympics: No pressure on me, focus is on 100m this time, says Dutee Chand

Ace India sprinter Dutee Chand said she will focus on the 100m race in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics which is set to get underway from July 23.

Dutee on Wednesday qualified for the quadrennial event in both 100m and 200m races via the World Rankings quota. The ace sprinter said there is no pressure on her to perform and she will give her best in the upcoming Games.

"I have focused more on 100m because I didn't have sufficient time to prepare for 200m. My focus will on 100m this time. There are many restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic but I will focus on training and competitions," Dutee told ANI.

"There is no pressure on me as I have competed with the same set of players before. And if I get to compete with the world-class players, it will just add to the excitement level," she added.

Dutee is optimistic about clinching a medal in the Tokyo Olympics and she aims to at least reach the semi-finals in the tournament.

"I'm feeling proud and happy to be qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in both the 100m and 200m races via the World Rankings quota. I'm very thankful to my trainers. I will perform well in the Olympics and I aim to qualify for the semi-finals," the ace sprinter said.

"My training is going on pretty well. I practice in the morning from 6 am-10 am, 11 am-12 noon, and then from 4 pm-6 pm, I train for approximately six to seven hours daily.

"I have participated in many international games, so I have the relevant experience which I will use to reach semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics," she added.

Dutee was felicitated by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Achyuta Samanta and Minister for Sports and Youth Services, Odisha Tusharkanti Behera on Sunday for qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.

Odisha is the host for the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup-2023 with venues at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. For this purpose, a new International Hockey Stadium is intended to be developed at Rourkela with a seated capacity of 20,000 spectators. This will be the largest hockey stadium in India.

The Odisha sports minister said they aim to finish the construction of the stadium by August-September next year.

"We have targeted that stadium will be finished and ready by 2022 August-September and all the infrastructure-related things will be done after constructing the stadium," Tusharkanti told ANI.

Coming back to Dutee, last week, she had scripted a new national record in the women's 100m with a time of 11.17 seconds in the Indian Grand Prix (IGP) 4 in Patiala, she had missed the Olympic qualification time by just 0.02 seconds.

22 spots were available in 100m and 15 spots in 200m via the World Rankings route. Dutee's overall position of World No. 44 in 100m and World No. 51 in 200m were well within the ranks to make her eligible to fly to Tokyo next month.

( With inputs from ANI )