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Bhubaneswar: Odisha sprinter Saraswati Chand helped All India Police Sports Control Board win the gold medal in women’s 4x400 metre relay event of the 52nd National Open Athletics Championship at J N Stadium at Chennai today.
The Police quartet, comprising Saraswati Chand, Papathi, Bhupinder Kaur and Pattandeep Kaur finished the race in 3:45.00.
Chand earlier missed a bronze as she finished fourth in her favourite 400 metre event, clocking 55.22 seconds.
The achievement of Chand came as a face-saver for Odisha as no other athlete from the state participated in the four-day championship. Odisha Athletic Association should take note of it that the state which bagged a record 50 medals in the recent East Zone Junior Athletics Championship at Kolkata, is lacking athletes good enough to compete in the Open National.
On the other hand, winning the relay gold, Chand, a Hawaldar Major of Odisha Police, proved that at the age of 30 she is better than all the younger athletes of the state.
Married to athletics and the sole bread-winner of eight-member family, Chand has been winning national and international laurels for Odisha Police without getting the reward she highly deserves. Her international achievements include 10 medals in two World Police and Fire Games and one gold in Asian Grand Prix Meet.
S P Burma, the coach of Chand, is also not getting the recognition or reward he deserves despite delivering around 100 medals to the department till date.
With the new Police DG Prakash Mishra being a well-known sports promoter, expectations are high that sportspersons in general and athletes in particular will get a better deal.
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