Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 10:
Controversial teen sprinter Dutee Chand set the track ablaze in the qualifiers itself with a new meet record even as Services Sports Control Board tightened its grip around the overall title by maintaining the top position in the 35th National Games here today.
On the 10th day of competitions, SSCB, the two-time defending champions, stayed comfortably placed at the top with 90 medals (55 gold, 16 silver and 19 bronze). Maharashtra took the second spot on account of lesser gold medals, totalling 100 overall (27 gold, 40 silver and 33 bronze). Haryana held on to the third spot with 56 medals (27 gold, 20 silver and 9 bronze).
At the athletics arena, Dutee, representing Odisha, broke the meet record in the heats itself, clocking 11.83sec in the women’s 100m sprint to better the previous mark of 11.84sec set by H M Jyothi in the 2011 edition. The 19-year-old is fighting a legal battle to compete internationally again after she was banned for failing a controversial gender test. (PTI)