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Three students from KIIT make it to Tokyo Olympics squad
Three students – sprinter Dutee Chand, fencer CA Bhavani Devi and javelin thrower Shivpal Singh - from KIIT Deemed to be University, in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, have made it to the Indian squad for the Tokyo Olympics, starting from July 23.
It will be a second consecutive Olympic appearance for Dutee Chand, a law student at KIIT, who qualified in two events - women’s 100m and 200m sprints - on the basis of her world ranking. An Arjuna Awardee athlete and national record holder in 100m, Dutee had earlier won two silver medals at the 2018 Asian Games.
CA Bhavani Devi, who is pursuing Ph.D. degree at KIIT, is the first Indian fencer to ever qualify for the Olympics. She secured qualification in the women’s sabre event at Tokyo 2020 Olympics through the adjusted Olympic rankings, following the World Cup in Hungary in March this year. Ranked 42nd in the world, she made history by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Senior Commonwealth Fencing Championship in Australia in 2018 in the sabre event.
Javelin thrower Shivpal Singh, a BBA student at KIIT, qualified for his maiden Olympic Games by achieving the qualification mark with a throw of 85.47m at the ACNW League Meeting in South Africa in March this year.
“KIIT is the only university in the country to send three athletes to the Tokyo Olympic Games,” said Dr Achyuta Samanta, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and founder, KIIT & KISS. “KIIT and KISS have been able to achieve such unique distinction as they have been promoting sports and games in a big way among the students since their inception. KISS has produced 5000+ sports talents at the state, national and international levels, including medal winners at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World University Games,” added Dr Samanta.
Apart from the three students, Dr Sudeep Satpathy of Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) has been selected as the Doctor of the Indian men’s hockey team for Tokyo Olympics. This will be a second successive appearance in Olympics for Dr Satpathy.