Indian Open Racewalking C'ships: Ram Baboo wins the men's 35 km Racewalk

National record holder Ram Baboo clinched the men’s 35km racewalk title at the Indian Open Race Walking Competition in Chandigarh on Saturday.

This was his first race in the 35km category this year, and he made full use of the opportunity, winning the event comfortably with a time of 2:32:53.50.

He finished ahead of veteran racewalker and multiple-time Olympian Sandeep Kumar, who made a comeback to the circuit and clocked a new personal best of 2:35:05.75 to bag the silver medal.

However, Ram fell short of the World Championships qualifying mark of 2:28:00 and will need to cut down a few more minutes in upcoming events to secure a back-to-back World Championships quota.

Servin wins the 20 km racewalk title

National Games champion Servin Sebastian added another feather to his cap by clinching the men’s 20km racewalk gold medal with a time of 1:21:46.47.

With this performance, Servin has further strengthened his case for a spot in the Indian team for the Asian Athletics Championships, having now won two consecutive national titles and currently holding the national lead for the year.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Amit won the silver medal with a new personal best of 1:21:51.46. He also breached the Asian Championships qualifying mark of 1:24:00.

With this result, India now has eight athletes who have met the Asian Championships qualification standard. However, only two athletes will be selected for the event, as per the decision of the Athletics Federation of India's selection committee.

Final Results

20km race walk men: Servin (Tamil Nadu) 1:21:46.47, Amit (Army) 1:21:51.46, Amanjot Singh (Army) 1:22:12.72.

35km race walk men: Ram Baboo (Army) 2:32:53.50, Sandeep Kumar (Haryana) 2:35:05.75, Vijay Omkar V (SSCB) 2:41:41.49.

20km race walk women: Ravina (Haryana) 1:35:58.80, Munita Prajapati (Uttar Pradesh) 1:38:05.60, Shalini (Uttarakhand) 1:39:18.90.

35km race walk women (results have been withheld due to technical reasons)..