Having not qualified in the 4×100m women’s relay in the Olympics since Sydney 2000, the Indian contingent will be desperate to make it to the event this time. Along with Das and Dutee Chand, the likes of Archana Suseendran, Himashree Roy, Sneha PJ, and Diandra Valladares will be aiming to work together to book the Olympic berth for the relay team.
Good to have Hima in the team, everyone is working hard to qualify for the Olympics: Dutee Chand
Hima Das broke into the scene in 2018, winning a silver medal in the 400m relay (50.49 seconds) in the Jakarta Asian Games but got compelled to focus on 100m and 200m sprints because of her back injuries. Speaking on her injury concerns, Indian chief national coach Radhakrishnan Nair said that running a shorter relay won’t make her injury flare-up.
Rio Olympian Dutee Chand has held the record of the fastest Indian women’s sprinter to run 100m in 11.22 seconds, which she accomplished in the 59th National Open Championships held in Ranchi last year. As per Nair, she will be leading the Indian contingent upfront in the qualifying tournaments next year.
To qualify directly for the 4×100m relay in the Tokyo Olympics, the Indian sprinters will have to seek a top-eight finish in Poland. If that doesn’t happen, the side will be aiming for a Top-16 finish in the global rankings to earn the Tokyo ticket.
Currently training in Bhubaneshwar, Dutee Chand expressed how she felt about having Hima Das in her team and the aspiration of making it to the Olympics next year.
The Indian women’s team missed out on qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics after ending one spot behind the eligible top 16. Dutee Chand set the target of 43 seconds combined for the team to qualify and book a berth in the upcoming Games set to kick start in July 2021 while expressing her views on the matter.
It will be intriguing to see how the Indian sprinters perform in the qualifying tournaments with eight months to go for the Olympics.
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