Dutee Chand invited to compete in World Athletics Championships despite failing qualification standards

Indian sprint queen Dutee Chand would consider herself lucky to be handed a surprise invitation by the International Association of Athletics Federation to take part in next month's World Athletics Championships despite failing to touch the original qualification standard.

Dutee, who missed the original entry standard of 11.26 seconds, got an invite from the IAAF as the target number of 56 athletes for women's 100m event was yet to be reached for the August 4-13 World Championships in London.

Dutee's best of 11.30 seconds, which she clocked during the Indian Grand Prix in New Delhi on May 15, during the qualifying period gives her a global ranking of 100.

"We have got an invite from the IAAF offering a quota entry for Dutee Chand in the women's 100m race. It's because the targeted number of athletes in that event (women's 100m) has not been reached," Athletics Federation of India President Adille Sumariwalla told PTI. "We have been told to reply yes or no within 12 hours and we are accepting it," he added.

Dutee's coach Nagpuri Ramesh said that she currently has a United Kingdom visa and she would be ready to take part in the World Championships.
"Dutee has a UK visa. The AFI applied for visa for all those athletes whose timings are very close to qualifying standards so that they have their visas ready in case of such invitations. She is ready for the World Championships," he said.

After participating in the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar earlier this month, where she claimed a bronze clocking 11.52 secs, Dutee took a break from competition.

She missed the National Inter-State Athletics Championships held at Guntur from July 15-18. Dutee's future was also under a cloud after the IAAF recently decided to submit fresh evidence at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Switzerland in support of its policy of barring female athletes who produced natural testosterone (male hormones) above permissible range from taking part in competitions.

Dutee got a ban imposed on her by Athletics Federation of India overturned in 2015 as the CAS partially upheld her appeal. The world's top sports tribunal, however, had given time of two years to the IAAF to produce conclusive evidence that female athletes with high levels of naturally producing testosterone have an unfair advantage over their peers.