Odisha Govt To Bear Dutee’s Olympics Preparation Expenses: CM

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced another cash reward of Rs 1.5 crore for ace sprinter Dutee Chand, who brought laurels to the state as well as the country by winning two silver medals at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta.

He announced the cash award for Dutee for clinching silver in the  women’s 200-metre.

The state government will bear the expenses of her preparations for the next Olympics, the Chief Minister informed.

He also spoke to Dutee over telephone and congratulated her for her outstanding performance.

Earlier, the Chief Minister had announced a cash award of Rs 1.5 crore for Dutee on winning silver medal in the women 100-metre event of the Asian Games.

Ace sprinter Dutee Chand has bagged silver in the women’s 100-metre on Sunday evening.

She finished second with a timing of 11.32 seconds.

The 22-year-old athlete bagged her second silver at the games, clocking 23.20 seconds, on Wednesday. She finished behind Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong, who clinched the gold in 22.96 seconds.

With her splendid achievement, Dutee has become the first woman sprinter from Odisha to have won two medals in her debut appearance in a single Asian Games and the second in the country after PT Usha who had won the silver in 100-metre and gold in the 200-metre sprint in 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi.