BENGALURU: India's ace woman sprinter, Dutee Chand, is locked indoors in Bhubaneswar, spending time doing household chores including cooking due to the coronavirus pandemic. With no gym equipment at home, she finds alternate ways to maintain fitness, including some basic exercises like lifting dumbbells. The 24-year-old’s routine will remain the same for few more weeks with the lockdown extended till May 3 on Tuesday.
The Odisha girl, however, is disappointed with postponement of Olympics. According to her, Dutee was working with a team comprising 10 members from last October. That included her personal coach, assistant coach, nutritionists, physio, masseur, running partner and others.
They were working closely and keeping tab on Dutee’s progress at the Kalinga Stadium. With most of them belonging to different states, they were put up in rented accommodation. All of this was possible due to financial support from Odisha government. She claims to have spent her own money.
With the Olympics now being pushed back to 2021, Dutee is unsure about her future preparations and whether the government will sanction funds for one more year. The money was only sanctioned till 2020 Olympics.
“The postponement is a big loss and also waste of time and effort. I had made progress with my team. The Odisha government and sponsors supported me. Now, with no training, I will have to get back to full fitness when the core training resumes. I do not know if the government will extend its help till the next year,” Dutee said.
Gunning for her second consecutive Olympic appearance, Dutee, who set her personal best of 11.22 in Ranchi last year, will have to run at least 0.07 seconds faster than her current best to make the cut.
With the possibility of India’s track and field season starting off in September, the sprinter has time to get back to her best. But before that happens, she is waiting for situation to get better.
She will also write to the government, asking for budget, which in turn will help resume training with her team. “I will have to write to the government. The previous grant has already been used. If it accepts my request, I can get the kind of same training I was getting with the help of my team here,” said Dutee, who is also afraid of criticism in these tough times.
“All celebrities are making donations to different relief funds. At this moment, if I ask (for financial support), I may not get it. People may criticise me. They might say, ‘you should not ask for money, instead you should donate’”.