While Indian fans were left disappointed as their cricket team lost to New Zealand in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, sprinter Dutee Chand made the country proud as she became the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in the 100m race at a global event.
Chand clinched a gold medal at the ongoing World University Games. The 23-year-old athlete clinched the gold by completing the feat in just 11.32 seconds.
Several Bollywood celebrities congratulated Dutee on her commendable performance and the huge feat.
Amitabh Bachchan took to Twitter to praise the Indian sprinter and wrote, "another proud moment for INDIA .. congratulations !! INDIAN pride."
Akshay Kumar took to the micro-blogging site and congratulated the star writing, "Heartiest congratulations @DuteeChand for becoming the first Indian woman track and field athlete to win a 100m gold at the World Universiade and creating history...fastest woman of India indeed."
Ayushmann Khurrana too expressed his happiness and wrote, "Goosebumps. India!!!!"
Huma Qureshi also extended heartiest congratulations to the athlete.
"Congratulations @DuteeChand for becoming the first Indian to win Gold in 100m sprint at #WorldUniversityGames More power to her," she tweeted.
Taapsee Pannu, who is known for doing female-centric films, too hailed Chand's performance.
"Wohooo here's to breaking stereotypes and records @DuteeChand," she wrote.
"Congratulations @DuteeChand on becoming the first Indian woman to win the 100-metre sprint at the 30th Summer University Games in Italy," wrote Arjun Kapoor congratulating Chand.
Many other stars including Anurag Kashyap, Atul Kasbekar, Neha Dhupia, Ali Fazal, and Dia Mirza took to Twitter to send their wishes to the 23-year-old athlete.
Chand won the 100m gold medal on Tuesday (local time) in the ongoing World University Games in Napoli. Chand won the gold medal in just 11.32 seconds. She also holds the 100m national record with an impressive timing of 11.24 seconds.
Chand recently made headlines after she disclosed that she's in a same-sex relationship.
"This is my personal matter. I am sure everything will be fine in a month or two. On the international level, there are several athletes (who are in a same-sex relationship). To live, everybody needs a partner who understands your heart. We like each other so we decided to live together. She gives me motivation for my sport. My focus on sports will be intact," she had said.
"Problem will come and go in future, nobody can take guarantee of that. But I think there won't be any problem. If it won't happen, I'll be able to focus more on my training. My focus is on Olympics 2020 (to be held in Tokyo). I am training to qualify and participate in the Olympics," she added.
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