Srabani Nanda becomes first Indian sprinter to compete amidst COVID-19 pandemic!

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Image Courtesy: Athletics Federation of India

Since March, the novel Coronavirus pandemic disrupted all sporting activities for almost four months. Now, as plans to resume sports in the country is gaining pace, sprinter Srabani Nanda is making headlines. Nanda has emerged as the first track and field athlete athlete from the country to take part in a competition amidst the virus crisis.

Image Courtesy: Athletics Federation of India

Srabani Nanda represented India at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, finishing sixth in her category. She took part at the Velocity Fest meeting at Jamaica College in Kingston on Sunday, the country’s first track and field event since March.

The 29 year old, representing MVP Track club, took part in the event alongside some of the biggest names in sprinting, such as Olympic gold medallists Elaine Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Competing in the 100m race, Nanda was the winner of heat two, clocking a time of 11.78 seconds, and finished in third place overall with a personal best of 11.45 seconds, and 23.07 seconds in 200m.

Check out the second heat, where Nanda beat Kasheika Cameron and Dominique Clarke in the video below, courtesy of Clean Click Media – Sports on Facebook.

Thompson, Nanda’s MVP Track club teammate and winner of both 100m and 200m events at Rio 2016, won the 100m race with a time of 11.19 seconds. Representing Nike, 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold medallist Fraser-Pryce won the 200m event, clocking 22.74 seconds.

Yohan Blake, two time Olympic gold medallist and former world champion won the men’s 200m event, clocking a time of 20.62 seconds.

Hailing from Phulbani in Odisha, Nanda’s first international gold medal came at the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati, winning the 200m event with a time of 23.91 seconds. She also won a silver in the 100m event, coming short of just 0.01 seconds behind Sri Lanka’s Rumeshika Rathnayake.

Nanda was a part of the team that won bronze in women’s 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, along with Sathi Geetha, H M Jyothi and P K Priya. Her second bronze of women’s 4 × 100 metres relay came at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar, where she teamed up with Dutee Chand, Himashree Roy and Merlin Joseph.

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