Dutee Chand closes season with 200m gold at National Championships

Dutee Chand completed a sprint double in the season-ending 59th National Open Athletics Championships, clocking the fastest time in 200m by an Indian this year with a 23.17 second burst on Sunday. Having set a national record in the 100m on Friday, Dutee added the half-lapper gold to her collection, showing her challenger Archana Suseendran (23.41) a clean pair of heels.

The Odisha athlete not only topped Archana’s time of 23.18 seconds clocked in the AFI Grand Prix in Patiala on August 16 but also came up with her own second fastest time behind the 23.00 timed in the Asian Games last year. Dutee was also adjudged the best female athlete while shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, who broke his own national record on Saturday, was named best athlete in the men’s category.

There was intense competition at the triple jump pit, even in Asian Games gold medallist Arprinder Singh’s absence. Abdulla Aboobacker challenged his Services team-mate Karthik Unnikrishnan till the very last jump in an event that saw the top six competitors cross the 16m mark.