Not just at the stadium but
Dutee can feel changes in her body as well which has been a result of sitting
at home without any proper training.
|
Agencies
New
Delhi: It was music to the ears of athletes when the government
decided to allow sportspersons to start training on Sunday under Lockdown 4.0
and sprinter Dutee Chand is no different. After spending the last couple of
months inside the four walls of her home, the Asian Games 100m silver medalist
is back where she belongs -- the track at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
But the sprinter believes a lot has changed in the last couple of months.
Speaking to IANS, Dutee not only spoke about returning to the tracks, but
also highlighted how there is a sense of caution everywhere. She says that
everyone wants to be alert and not commit a mistake.
“Earlier everyone used to greet
each other but now even the security guards are a bit scared. Whenever we
touched something, they asked us to wash our hands. Never saw the gym getting
cleaned so many times previously but now, they were constantly sanitizing it,”
Dutee revealed.
Not just at the stadium but Dutee can feel changes in her body as well
which has been a result of sitting at home without any proper training.
“I did my warm-ups but I faced
some difficulties. Earlier I used to take five minutes to complete a kilometre
during warm-ups, now it took me seven minutes,” she said.
“I did my practice and then
came home. Earlier, we used to train in teams and we used to motivate each
other but now, I had to do everything alone and it didn’t feel good.”
Before coronavirus hit the world hard, Dutee was focussing to bring
her speed down to 11.15s, which is the Olympics qualification mark in 100m. She
clocked 11.22s in Ranchi and became the fastest Indian but still was a fair
distance away from securing an Olympic berth.
“I was preparing for the
Olympics but then it was announced that due to the pandemic the entire country
is going under lockdown,” she said.
“During that time I had gone to
Patiala to take part in a tournament but it was cancelled. We weren’t even
allowed to go on the ground and I was confined in my room. During the initial
days it was very problematic for me.”
It was a mixed feeling for Dutee when Tokyo Olympics was finally moved
to 2021. She revealed taking a big financial hit because of the postponement
and also how she will have to do it all over again to reach the place where she
was before coronavirus came into existence.
“When the Olympics got
postponed I felt sad as I had prepared really hard for it. Financially also I
took a hit as I had invested around 30 lakhs on my training from October to
February,” Dutee said.
“I had plans to go Germany to
prepare for the Olympics -- three months training and then the competition. But
because of coronavirus I had to cancel all such plans. I will have to start my
training from scratch now,” she added.
Now the long road to recovery begins for Dutee and according to her, it
is not going to be an easy ride. To regain her speed she will have to get back
to full fitness first and that will take some time.
“It will take me three months
to get back to full fitness. When I will start feeling fit then will focus on
getting back my speed. I feel the speed that I touched in 2019, I will be able
to regain than only in February 2021,” she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment