Star women's sprinter Dutee Chand rewrote the history books with a new record in women's 100m race at the 59th National Open Athletics Championships in Ranchi on October 11, 2019 (Friday). The Asian silver medallist clocked 11.22 seconds in the 100m hat event to break the previous record she had set at the Asian Athletics Championships earlier this year. The country's and Chand's previous personal best was 11.26, which she had registered in April. She improved the previous best by at least by 0.04 seconds. She had earlier emerged the fastest in the qualifiers for the semis by clocking 11:55 seconds in the heats.

The 23-year-old female sprinter, who has fought Hyperandrogenism accusations to get back to the track, clinched India’s first athletics medal at the Asian Games since 1998. Chand clinched the silver in the 100m and also the 200m events in the women’s category. The 11.22 seconds at the National Athletics Championships took her closer towards qualifying for the 2020 Olympics. With the qualification mark of the Tokyo Olympics set at 11.15 seconds, Dutee has just over eight months to reach or break it and confirm her berth.

Dutee Chand Breaks National Record

Dutee Chand Creates New National Record

Meanwhile, Annu Rani bagged a gold in the Women's Javelin throw at the National Athletics Championship event but national champions Neeraj Chopra pulled out of the competition on advice from his personal coach. Rani, who set the national record with a 62.43m at the World Championships in Doha, had little difficulty in securing the top honours in Ranchi. Her best throw in the six-throw series finals was 55.97m.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 11, 2019 06:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).