Jakarta: Dutee Chand set herself up on course for a second Asian Games medal after qualifying for the women’s 200m final but Hima Das suffered a heartbreak as she was disqualified for a false start here today.
Dutee, who won a silver in women’s 100m dash, stormed into the final by winning the semifinal in a personal-best time of 23:00 seconds, which was faster than her qualification round timing. Dutee was in third position in the beginning but made up in the last 50m stretch to edge out Edidiong Odiong (23.01) and Lingwei Kong (23.32).
Hima, the silver medallist in the women’s 400m, lined up for the semifinal heat number two but had to make a premature exit due to a false start. She will now hope to make up for the mistake in the mixed 4x400m relay, making its debut at the Asian Games, later in the day.
Dutee was faster than Hima in the qualifying, clocking 23.37, compared to 23.47 of the latter. In the National Inter-State Championships in June, Hima had won the 200m gold in 23.10 ahead of Dutee, who had clocked 23.41.
