Indian race-walkers leave for World team championships

A nine-member Indian team left on Wednesday for the IAAF World Race Walk team championship to be held in Taicang, China, on May 5 and 6.

K.T. Irfan will be competing in the 20-kilometre category.

A nine-member Indian team left on Wednesday for the IAAF World Race Walk team championship to be held in Taicang, China, on May 5 and 6.

K.T. Irfan, Vikash Singh and Neeraj Kumar will compete in the 20-kilometre section, while Sandeep Kumar and Jitendra Singh will compete in the 50-kilometre category.

In women’s 20 kilometre walk, Khushbir Kaur, B. Soumya, Ravina and Shanti Kumari will represent the country.

The Indian team for the Asian Games will be selected based on the performances of the walkers in the race in China.

Manish Kumar Rawat who finished sixth with a timing of 1 hour 22 minutes and 22 seconds in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast has been rested and his time clocked in Australia will be considered for selection for Asian Games in Jakarta.

However, it may be noted that the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had set a selection criteria of 1:22:00 for men and 1:34:54 for women and 3:55:00 for men’s 50 kilometre race.