Indian Grand Prix: Dharun Ayyasamy, Dutee Chand secure Asian Championships qualification

Dharun Ayyasamy won the 400m hurdles and Dutee Chand secured qualification winning the 200m in the second leg of the Indian Grand Prix.

Dutee Chand in action in the 200m event at the Indian Grand Prix in New Delhi.

Dharun Ayyasamy made it two-in-two, winning the 400m hurdles in the second leg of the Indian Grand Prix in New Delhi on Wednesday, securing qualification for the Asian Championships in the process.

Ayyasamy clocked 49.94 seconds – the qualifying time was 50 seconds – to finish ahead of Tamil Nadu statemates Santhosh Kumar and M. Ramachandran, improving on his 50.05 performance in Patiala four days back even as the big names – Hima Das and Jinson Johnson – failed to turn up for the season opening competition.

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Ayyasamy, who also holds the national record in the event set at the Asian Games last year, became the second Indian to assure himself a spot at the Doha event to be held in April.

Also achieving the mark was Dutee Chand in the 200m, clocking exactly 23.30 seconds – the qualifying timing set by the Athletics Federation of India. She also completed the 100-200m double adding to the 100m gold she won in Patiala.

In Johnson's absence, Ajay Kumar won the 1500m, finishing in 3:46.10 – falling short of the qualifying mark by one-tenth of a second. Interestingly, Ajay's name was not in the initial starting list for the event.

Also winning was Delhi's Nisar Ahmed, in the 200m, his first outing since being disqualified in the age-fiasco at the National Youth Athletics meet in Raipur recently. Nisar is also a winner of the Khelo India School Games.

The AFI, while claiming that he was clear to participate in senior events, has also admitted it would be meeting to decide on the quantum of punishment for those found guilty even though the National Sports Code 2011 has clear provision for a two-year ban.