Asian Jr Athletics : Dutee wins two golds on last day

Odisha Sun Times Bureau

Bhubaneswar, June 15:

Odisha’s ace woman sprinter Dutee Chand bagged two gold medals within a one and a half hour period on the last day of the 16th Asian junior athletics championships at Taipei city – one each in the 200 meter sprint and the 4 X 400 meter relay.

Dutee won the gold in 200 meters with an impressive timing of 23.74 seconds with Shanti Veronica Pereira of Singapore winning the silver with a timing of 23.99 seconds and Nigina Saripova of Uzbekistan the bronze with 24. 24 secs.

In less than two hours, she emerged with another gold in the 4 X 400 meters relay event with her India team mates Jisha V.V, Jessy Joseph and Vijaya Kumari with a timing of 3:40:53.

The Thai team comprising Supanich Poolkerd, Nawaporn Saekhow, Chamaiphon Thangsuk and Thanphimon Kaeodi won the silver with a timing of 3:42:27 while the Taipei team consisting of Pei-Yu Pan, Yen-Tong Lin, Yi-Hsuan Lu and Yu-Chie Lin won the bronze with 3:43:00.

Unfortunately, Dutee could not take part in the 100-metre race because the Indian team reached Taipei several hours after the qualifying rounds had been completed- thanks to the managers of the Indian athletic team.