Dutee Chand sprints to victory in Indian Grand Prix 100m event

India's sprint queen Dutee Chand made a terrific comeback on the domestic athletics circuit by sprinting to victory in the 100m event at the Indian Grand Prix event held in Patiala.

The Indian Grand Prix was the first event in Indian track and field athletics since the National Open Athletics Championships in October 2019.

Dutee, who is looking ahead to qualifying for her second Olympics, clocked 11.51 seconds in the finals to maintain her winning streak in her pet event at the domestic circuit. However, she missed the 2021 Tokyo Olympics qualification time of 11.15 sec.

Congratulations @DuteeChand & Amiya Mallick for bagging medals in the First Indian Grand Prix at NIS, Patiala.Dutee won a gold 🥇 in 100 m Women's with a timing of 11.51 secs while Amiya won a bronze🥉 in 100 m Men's with a timing of 10.89 secs.@afiindia @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/s0sfMrFLIZ

— Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) February 18, 2021

AT Daneshwari of Karnataka came second in 11.86 sec followed by Diandra Valladares from Maharashtra who won the bronze with a time of 11.97 sec. All these timings were far off from the Tokyo Olympic qualification cut of 11.15 sec.

While the 200m title was taken by Anjali Devi in 23.57 sec, Karnataka's 30-year-old sprinter MR Poovamma won the 400m race in 53.45sec. Furthermore, Mareena George of Kerela won the long jump event, leaping a distance of 6.11m.

Men's Category Results at the Indian Grand Prix I

In the men's category, the 100m race was won by Maharashtra's Krishnakumar Satish Rane who clocked 10.68 sec. Kerala's Muhammad Anas settled for silver, timing 10.70 sec, and national record holder Amiya Kumar Mallick came in third in 10.89 sec.

In the 200m event, Arokia Rajiv won the race in 21.40 sec. He was followed by Shashank Shinde (22.21) and Sunil Jat (22.26).

24 year old, Dharun Ayyasamy, eased his way to winning the 400m hurdles title in 51.33 sec despite his personal best being 48.8 sec. Moreover, the 400m title went to P Naganathan of Tamil Nadu who clocked 47.32 sec to win gold. Kerala's Eldhose Paul jumped an impressive distance of 16.56m to win the Triple Jump event.

Long jumper Yugant Singh of Uttar Pradesh made an impressive comeback after 4 years, with his personal best leap of 7.62m to win gold.

In most of the events on the first leg of the Indian Grand Prix, none of the athletes were able to cut into the Tokyo Olympics qualification time. Moreover, very few athletes competed in the first leg of the Indian Grand Prix.

The three Indian Grand Prix events followed by the Federation Cup will serve as Olympic Qualifiers for the upcoming 2021 Tokyo Olympics.