An Indian professional ace sprinter and Olympian Dutee Chand received warm wishes for her sparkling future and success by the luminaries on her natal day. She celebrated her 24th birthday with many national and international sportspersons, cine stars, intellectuals, well-wishers and illustrious personalities from various spheres of life at Hotel Crown, Bhubaneswar. KIIT threw the birthday bash in the honour of Dutee Chand as she is an ex-student of KIIT and brought various laurels to Odisha and India.
Several luminaries comprising Dr Achyuta Samanta, Founder KIIT & KISS, Indian Footballer and former captain of Indian Women Football Team Shradhanjali Samantray, Arjun Awardee Cyclist Minati Mohapatra; Athletes Jauna Murmu, Purnima Hembram, Odia cene star, Mihir Das, Sabyasachi Mishra, cine critic Dilip Hali, senior journalist Pradosh Patnaik, Pro-VC of KIIT Deemed to be University, Prof. Sasmita Samant and KIIT Sports Director, Dr Gaganendu Dash, KIIT officials Dr Sucheta Priyabadini, Dr Shradhanjali Nayak and Dr Smita Mohanty blessed Dutee on the occasion. She also commemorated her birthday with 30000 tribal children in KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences) by cutting a cake.
The golden girl Dutee was born on February 3rd, 1996 to Chakradhar Chand and Akhuji Chand and hails from the Jajpur district of Odisha. She used to stay with her six siblings – five sisters and one brother in the coastal town of Gopalpur. She was inspired by her elder sister, Saraswati at the age of 4 who used to run at the banks of the Brahmani River. Saraswati contended in a state-level running competition. Dutee went to a local school of Chaka Gopalpur Village, Odisha and completed her Bachelor of Laws from the KIIT University, Bhubaneshwar in 2013.
She worked extremely hard to achieve her goals. Coming from an impoverished weavers family, she couldn’t afford to buy shoes for herself, thus she had to run barefoot during training. But, soon by the grace of God, she was conferred with sports scholarship at a government school in Bhubaneshwar. She was perceived by the team coaches when she started going to college. Then, she was trained for the upcoming college events.
She became the first Indian athlete to announce her relationship with a girl so openly in 2019 and supported the LGBTQ+ community.
Presently, she is working as an Executive Officer in the state PSU The Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd.
Dutee Chand Achievements
An Indian athlete, Dutee Chand is a national record holder of a 100m sprint. She has represented India in the Olympics and the Asian Games.
She garnered various encomiums during college at state as well as national level. Later, she was shifted to Patiala and Hyderabad for her advanced training. She was being trained amongst boys under Coach N Ramesh which boosted her confidence. She considers her elder sister Saraswati as her mentor.
Dutee embarked her course in 2012 when she turned into a National Champion in the under-18 category in 100m event. She was bestowed with a Bronze medal at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships at Pune by clocking 23.811 seconds. She was the first Indian to reach the global athletics of a 100 metres final in the 2013 World Youth Championships. She set a record in the 100 metres and 200 metres sprint at the National Senior Athletics Championships at Ranchi and became evolved into a National Medalist. She triumphed two gold medals at the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in the 200 metres and the 4*400m relays in June 2014. She set the Indian National Record clocking in at 7.28 seconds in the qualifier and won a Bronze medal in the final at 2016 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in 60 metres. She set another 100m National record on 25th June 2016 after clocking 11.24 seconds at the 26th International Meeting at Almaty, Kazakhstan, thereby qualifying for the Olympic Games. Although she did not move beyond the heats in the Rio 2016 Olympics, she became the third Indian woman to participate in the Women’s 100 metres.
She secured two Bronze medals in the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships – won in the Women’s 100 metres and another in the Women’s 4*100m relay at Bhubaneshwar. Chand clinched the silver medal both in the Women’s 100 metres finals and Women’s 200 metres finals at the 2018 Asian Games. Posterior to the victory of PT Usha in 1996, it was Dutee’s first Asian Games medal and India’s first silver medal in this category after 32 years.
Being in the lead throughout the race at the 30th Summer University Games in Naples, Italy, Dutee bagged a Gold medal in the 100m event and became the first Indian ever to win this medal.
Dutee has been honoured with Rs.3 crore by the Government of Odisha for making the country proud by bringing in the silver medals at the 2018 Asian Games.
Dutee Chand Sports History
Dutee had to face backlash from his village while coming out to fulfil her aspirations in sports. When she was banned to participate in CWG 2014, she defied the odds in her career. According to the Director-General of the Sports Authority of India, she was a sure shot Olympic medallist of the future.
Chand pleaded in front of the Court of Arbitration for sports challenging the decision taken by the Sports Authority of India and IAAF. Court released the judgement in favour of Dutee Chand in a landmark verdict. The rule was refurbished and there was suspension IAAF policy on hyperandrogenism following the case. During those two years, life was cockeyed for Dutee. It was a great comeback of Dutee in 2016 as she bagged several laurels for the country.
Posterior to the open acknowledgement of being gay, she faced a big revolt by her family and relatives in the village. They were not ready to accept her same-sex relationship.
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