A six-member Odisha squad rode on a glorious double by Dutee Chand to bag five medals in the 9th National Youth (Under-18) Athletics Championship, which was held at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore from July 13 to 15. The medals included three gold and two bronze.
Displaying commendable speed and power Dutee won both the 100 and 200 metre sprint titles to be adjudged the best girl athlete of the championship. In 100m sprint, Dutee rewrote both the meet and National record, clocking 11.80 seconds in the heats and 11.85 seconds in the final.
Interestingly, the previous meet and National record of 12.08 seconds had been set by her statemate Ranjita Mahanta at Coimbatore on April 23, 2010. Incidentally, Ranjita had also set the previous meet and National record in the heats. In 200m sprint, Dutee took 24.49 seconds to equal both the meet and national marks Ranjita Mahanta, who had achieved the feat at Coimbatore on April 25, 2010.