Dutee Sees A Bright Future For Track Sports In India And Believes Adequate Training Facilities Are The Need Of The Hour

It has been a year when Indian track sport has come to life, resulting in multiple gold medals at international events. Hima Das, one of the burgeoning sprinters has been instrumental in the ongoing purple patch for the track sport.

AFP

Dutee Chand is one of the fastest women in India and also became the first Indian woman to win a gold at?Universiade, doing so at?2019 Summer Universiade?in?Napoli. In an exclusive interview with Indiatimes, the 23-year-old Odisha sprinter opened up about the recent golden run of Indian athletes and the challenges ahead:

Q. Track sport has not been popular in India, and people didn't take much interest. But after Hima Das and your recent achievements, there seems to be a change in the attitude towards track sports. How has the changed occurred??

A. Earlier there weren't many training centres in India, and it was difficult to train athletes. People used to tell me, there is no future in the sport and that I was wasting my life. Now the things have changed.

Earlier, there was no prize money or training facilities, but goverment has changed that - there are new initiatives like Khelo India, Target Olympic Podium Scheme and various other schemes.

Not just goverment, but private sector is helping too, which is resulting in changing attitudes and more kids taking interest in track sports. The goverment support has been crucial in me and Hima Das winning medals.?

Q. Do you think schemes like Khelo India have developed an interest in kids in track sport?

A.? More than goverment, it is the private sector that is helping kids to realise their dreams. Kids are being trained for free and are given a place to live and provided with food. These kids can't otherwise afford it because they come from underprivileged backgrounds. It has helped get more kids to take up the sport.

PTI

Q. After you and other athletes have achieved so much and brought laurels to our country, what should be the goal going ahead? Should Olympics be the target?

A. There have been lots of international competitions going on, in which pour athletes including me have participated. We always give our best and try to win for our country. But we don't have standard and world-class training facilities, as a result athletes get injured every two months.

It doesn't help matters as athletes can't participate in many events and replacements are to be sent, who are not prepared. That needs to change first in order for us to achieve big things.

AP

Q. Don't we have adequate facilities for our athletes?

A. Look, athletes need good training facilities and we don't have indoor tracks unlike other countries. Other countries have world-class facilities and good weather - making it easier for athletes to train and develop.

Our country has a different climate and it gets difficult to train in the heat and rain. We need indoor tracks, which have consistent temperatures and help athletes train better. It has to happen, then only we will be able to do well in Olympics and other big competitions.?