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Akshdeep Singh breaks 20km race walk national mark, Suraj Panwar qualifies for Paris
He rewrote his own mark to win the India Open race walking event; Suraj finished second and dipped under the mark set for the Olympics entry
Punjab's Akshdeep Singh rewrote his 20km race walking national record to win the India Open Race Walking Competition in Chandigarh on Tuesday while second-placed Suraj Panwar from Uttarakhand made the cut for the Paris Olympics.
Akshdeep clocked 1 hour 19 minutes 37.56 seconds, bettering his 1:19:55 set last February at the National Open Race Walking Championships in Ranchi.
Uttarakhand's Panwar was second clocking 1:19:43.08, becoming only the second Indian to dip under 1:20. Panwar's effort though was enough to come under the Olympics qualification mark of 1:20:10s. Last year, Panwar had missed qualification by 0.01secs in Ranchi, clocking 1:20:11. Tamil Nadu's Servin finished third with a time of 1:20:29.65.
Four Indian men have now qualified for Paris. Vikas Singh and Paramjeet Bisht are the others who have made the cut. Each NOC can send a maximum of three athletes per discipline, which means the National Inter State Championships in June will serve as selection trials for the Olympics.
"We will go by the results as well as current form. We expect all four qualified race walkers to turn up," said an Athletics Federation of India official.
In the women's section, Punjab's Manju Rani bagged the top spot with a personal best timing of 1:34:16.67. Uttarakhand's Payal claimed silver (1:34:45.10) and Uttar Pradesh's Munita Prajapati took bronze (1:35:36.16). The Paris qualification mark is set at 1:29:20.
Among women, only national record holder and Tokyo Olympian Priyanka Goswami has booked her ticket to Paris. Goswami didn't participate in the event as she is currently training in Australia under foreign coach Brent Vallance.
