HIGHLIGHTS

• Dutee secured qualification in the women’s 100m and 200m via world rankings quota
• Dutee will be making her second appearance at the Olympics
• She was the third Indian woman to participate in the 100m event at the Olympics at the 2016 Rio Games

Star sprinter Dutee Chand said on Friday that she has departed from India for the Tokyo Olympics. Dutee posted photos of her getting a sendoff at the airport. “Today I going to hyderabad to Tokyo Olympics games via new Delhi,” she said in her caption.

Dutee secured qualification in the women’s 100m and 200m via world rankings quota. She failed to qualify directly to the Tokyo Olympics. The Asian Games silver medalist missed the Tokyo spot in her last race, finishing 4th in the 100m final at the 60th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships earlier this week.

Duttee Chand is ranked 44 in the 100m charts and 51 in the 200m charts. The rankings were enough to help seal a berth for Tokyo Games. 22 spots were available for 100m and 15 for 200m via the World Rankings route.

Dutee will be making her second appearance at the Olympics. She was the third Indian woman to participate in the 100m event at the Olympics at the 2016 Rio Games.

Dutee said in an online interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that she is looking to show at the Tokyo Olympics that Indian women are not less or weaker than anyone and that the country will progress only when its women prosper.

“I have three sisters and one brother and people used to tell my mother why she was giving birth to so many girls. We had little food to eat and my father’s income was also very low. I was thinking if I play well I can get a good job in the government sector,” Dutee told PM Modi.

“Now I have managed to get a good life for my family and I would like to thank you and everyone who have helped me to achieve that. There has always been controversy in my life. There have been a lot of challenges I had to overcome to get here,” she said.