Indian 20km race walkers produce disappointing performances at Worlds

NEW DELHI: Indian athletes failed to make an impact in the prestigious World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships on Sunday as none of them came up with reassuring performances ahead of the Paris Olympics in July-August.

All 10 athletes on show in the 20km events — five each in men’s and women’s sections — dished out below-par timings with Servin Sebastian being the only Indian to finish in the top-20 but he too was way off the timings he has set this year.

Ram Baboo, the latest to achieve the Olympics men’s 20km race walk qualification standard clocking a personal best of 1:20:00 in the Dudinska 50 Meet in Slovakia, exited around the 2km mark, while Sebastian, Vikash Singh, Paramjeet Singh and Suraj Panwar, who have also met the Olympics qualifying standards, performed way below potential despite conducive weather in the Mediterranean seaside town.

Sebastian clocked 1:21.39 seconds, way off the Paris qualification time of 1:20.10 and the time of 1:20.03 he had set at the Indian Open Race Walking Competition on way to meeting the Olympic qualifying standard in January.

Vikash Singh, who came up with his season’s best performance of 1:21.59 here, finished 23rd while Suraj Panwar, with a time of 1:24.09, was a distant 40th among 76 athletes to finish the event. The fifth Indian in the fray, Arshpreet Singh, finished 66th clocking a dismal 1:33.39.

In women’s 20km race walk, none of the five Indian contenders for Paris berths could come anywhere close to the Olympic cut-off timing of 1:29:20, with Pooja Kumawat being the best finisher at 42nd with a time of 1:40.27. Manju Rani and Mokavi Muthurathinam were close at 43rd and 44th, clocking 1:40.31 and 1:40.33 respectively.

The other two Indians, Ramandeep Kaur (142.12) and Payal (1:42.32) finished 49th and 50th respectively in an event where 63 athletes completed the race. IANS

Also Read: Walkers Priyanka Goswami, Akshdeep Singh qualify for Paris Olympics

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