Sprinter Dutee Chand’s 100m national record set in the Kazakhstan city of Almaty to qualify for the Rio Olympics last year was not ratified by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) during its Executive Committee meeting last week, sources said.
Dutee and long jumper Ankit Sharma earned Rio berths as a result of their national record performances in Almaty last June.
But, it's learnt that there were issues over the status of the dope testing laboratory there and hence these records were not ratified during the AFI meeting.
“The Executive Committee did not ratify the national records in the absence of anti-doping proofs and it will be done at later stage,” the AFI had said in a statement after its executive committee meeting on February 25.
Anti-doping papers are a must to ratify national records.
On June 28, World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) announced the suspension of the accreditation of the anti-doping laboratory in Almaty for a period of four months. But it said that the suspension would take effect from June 24.
On June 25, Dutee set a national record of 11.24 seconds in the 100m final at the 26th G Kosanov Memorial Meet in Almaty to become the first Indian woman sprinter to qualify for the 100m dash in the Olympics after 36 years.
She had clocked 11.30 secs in the heats while the Rio qualification mark was 11.32 secs.
Ankit recorded a jump of 8.19m, a personal best and national record. It was also better than the Rio qualifying mark of 8.15m.
Dutee’s coach N. Ramesh said, “Some people told me that Dutee’s national record has not been ratified during the AFI meeting but I have not been told officially by the AFI. So, I don’t know.”
“Dutee had set national records in India and dope tests were conducted. Our job is to train hard, run and win medals for the country. I am sure Dutee will improve upon her timing in future and set national records. She will only get better and better,” he added.
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