Dhanalakshmi wins 100m dash, injured Hima may miss Games

Meanwhile, sprinter Hima Das did not start after injuring herself in the heat races, putting her in doubt for the Tokyo Olympics. All the competitors in the women’s 100m final race returned with mediocre timings even as Dhanalakshmi emerged as the fastest woman, clocking 11.52 seconds, ahead of Sri Lanka’s Amasha de Silva (11.59s) and Archana Suseendran (11.60s) of Tamil Nadu.

Dutee, who had clocked 11.17 seconds in the Indian Grand Prix 4 earlier this week at the same NIS tracks, finished fourth with a time of 11.62. She was seen having some discomfort while crossing the finishing line. Dutee though is likely to qualify for the Olympics on the basis of world rankings as she is sitting pretty at 41st spot in the ‘Road to Tokyo’ list. Fifty-six athletes will compete in the Tokyo Olympics women’s 100m race. Hima, who has had a lower back injury problem for a long time, did not start in the final after sustaining a muscle pull during the 100m heats in the morning session. The extent of her injury could not be ascertained officially. But it is learnt that the Assam athlete is highly unlikely to run the 200m race scheduled on Sunday as well as the women’s 4x100m relay final on June 29. She had run her personal best of 20.88 seconds in 200m at the IGP 4, but missed the automatic qualification mark of 20.80 seconds.

Hima’s injury is also a big blow to the 4x100m women’s relay team’s qualification bid for the Tokyo Games as she is a vital member of the quartet, also comprising Dutee, Dhanalakshmi and Archana. Gurindervir Singh of Punjab emerged as the fastest man in the championships as he won the 100m final with a time of 10.27 seconds. The Olympics qualifying mark in men’s 100m is 10.05 seconds. National record-holding high jumper Tejaswin Shankar’s bid for an Olympic quota ended in disappointment as he could clear only 2.20m though he won gold.