Dutee Singh

Two young sportspersons from Tata sports cradles have bagged plum jobs with PSUs.

While Archer Atanu Das has been selected by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), sprinter Dutee Chand has clinched a job at Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC). Both the athletes have joined their respective employers on a three-year contract.

Twenty-year-old Atanu was on an extension at Tata Archery Academy when IOCL offered him the job. Dutee, however, was a cadet at Tata Athletics Academy and had to leave the cradle midway.

The news has spread joy in both cradles. Dutee has attributed her success to Tata Athletics Academy.

“I'm happy to have found a job. I owe my recent performances to the academy where I honed my skills. I got good support at the cradle and will always remember my days in Jamshedpur,” she said over the phone from Trivandrum.

Dutee’s mentor, Satnam Singh, also expressed happiness. “Dutee is a good athlete. I always had faith in her abilities. She is bound to win several medals in international competitions,” the Tata cradle coach said.

While Atanu could not be contacted, The Telegraph spoke to the archer’s mentor and Tata Archery Academy coach Dharmendra Tiwary. He pointed out that Atanu landed the job because of consistent performances over the last few years.

“Atanu is a quick learner and a hard-working archer and will make a mark in future,” said Tiwary. He added that Atanu’s four-year term at the cradle ended in 2010, but he was given an extension due to his performance.

Both Atanu and Dutee have attracted attention over the years by their feats at national and international contests.

Atanu joined Tata Archery Academy in 2006 and progressed well on both national and international circuits. The Calcutta-based archer bagged the mixed team event bronze with Deepika Kumari at the World Cup, which concluded at Medellin in Columbia on Sunday.

Atanu claimed individual gold and team silver in the 1st Asian Grand Prix at Bangkok in 2009 before bagging the team silver in 16th Asian Archery Championship held at Bali, Indonesia, the same year. He was part of the national outfit for Junior and Cadet World Archery Championship staged at Antalya, Turkey in 2008. He also participated in Youth World Championship at Ogden, USA in 2009 and qualified for Youth Olympics 2010 in Singapore. The archer has been a regular in the Indian men’s team.

Seventeen-year-old Dutee, who hails from Jajpur in Orissa, has obtained a reputation as one of the best talents in the national athletic circuit. She was picked by ONGC when she was attending the national senior camp at Patiala earlier this month. The 17-year-old slotted home the 200m bronze at the recently concluded Asian Athletics Championship in Pune by clocking 23.82 secs.

In the recent World Youth Championships at Donetsk in Ukraine, Dutee clocked her career best of 11.62 seconds — a national youth and junior record — in the first round heats for 100-metre sprint. Though she finished sixth in the final, her feat did not go unnoticed in the athletic circuit.

Dutee also aced three gold medals at the five-day 58th National School Games Athletics Championship at Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, held between January 28 and February 2. For her feat, she was declared the best athlete among girls at the Under-19 level. At the school nationals, the teenager aced 100m (11:98 seconds), 200m (24:57 seconds) and 400m (55:71 seconds). The petite speedster was also presented a car for her splendid show.