Express News Service
CHENNAI: Untill March, S Dhanalakshmi was a relatively obscure name in the athletics circuit. The young Tamil Nadu sprinter hadn’t won any senior national event till then in a field dominated by the likes of Dutee Chand and Hima Das in recent years, but the Federation Cup in Patiala three months ago changed that. She won gold in the women’s 100m with a timing of 11.39s and clocked 23.39s in the 200m event to finish second behind Hima.
The girl from Trichy has impressively backed it up with creditable showings in the recently-concluded Indian Grand Prix-4 and National Inter-State Championships. While she finished second in the 200m at IGP-4 (23.14s), she again clinched gold in the 100m at the inter-state event with a timing of 11.52s.
The displays have infused enormous confidence in a shy and diffident Dhanalakshmi that she is now among the best women sprinters in the country. The 23-year-old’s journey so far has been ridden with financial strife, having lost her father at the age of 15. She is hoping that her efforts on the track can also help her get a job to support her ageing mother.
“I have the confidence of being one of the best sprinters in India now. I feel I can perform at any event. After the Federation Cup victory, there was pressure on me to maintain my performance so that people don’t see it as a one-off. I am glad that I have done that. I could have done better than my timing of 11.52s in the 100m, but my body wasn’t in the best shape after taking part in quite a few events recently,” Dhanalakshmi told this daily.
Dhanalakshmi was speaking a day after the women’s 4×100 relay team – of which she was a part alongside Dutee, Archana Suseendran and Daneshwari AK – finished first in the Inter-State relay final (44.15s) but failed to meet the timing of 43.04s needed for Olympic qualification. The 23-year-old puts it down to the absence of the injured Hima. Daneshwari had to step in as a result. “The timing would have been much better had she been there. It was a big loss for us,” she reflected.
Full story: newindianexpress.com
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