Athletics
Priyanka-Akshdeep seal mixed relay quota at World Race Walking Team C'ships
Priyanka and Akshdeep finished 18th in the Marathon Race Walk Mixed event, to secure the Paris Olympics quota place in a rather forgetful day for Indian race walkers.
Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh will compete at the Paris Olympics in individual as well as mixed-team events.
Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh Sunday sealed the Paris Olympics quota place for India in the gruelling Mixed Race Walk event in a rather forgetful day for Indian athletes at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya, Turkey.
Priyanka and Akshdeep finished 18th in the Marathon Race Walk Mixed Relay Mixed, clocking 3:05:03 seconds. However, the other Indian mixed pairing of Munita Prajapati and Paramjeet Singh failed to achieve the cut-off mark as they finished 35th with a timing of 3:09:58s.
Only the top 22 athletes were eligible for Paris Olympics quota places at the event.
Priyanka and Akshdeep have qualified for the Paris Olympics in their individual categories in the men’s and women’s 20km race walk events.
Earlier, in the 20km events, among the ten Indian athletes - five each in men's and women's sections - Servin Sebastian was the only racewalker to make a top 20 finish. But Servin was nowhere close to the best he set this year.
India's star racewalker Ram Baboo, who qualified for the Paris Olympics with a personal best effort of 1:20:00 in the Dudinska 50 Meet in Slovakia, left the tournament around the 2k mark.
Vikash Singh, Paramjeet Singh and Suraj Panwar too failed to impress.
Sebastian, who was chasing the Olympic qualifying standard, clocked 1:21.39 seconds, falling short of the Paris Olympic qualifying mark of 1:20.10 and his personal best of 1:20.03 he had set at the Indian Open Race Walking Competition on way to meeting the Olympic qualifying standard in January.
In women's 20km race walk, no Indian racewalkers were close to achieving the Olympic cut-off mark 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 finished 43rd and 44th. Ramandeep Kaur (142.12) and Payal finished 49th and 50th respectively in the 63-athlete race.
This poor display by the Indian racewalker will leave the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) concerned.
