Khushbir fifth, Manish sixth in IAAF Challenge

National women’s record holder Khushbir Kaur finished fifth while Manish Singh Rawat was sixth in the men’s event in the IAAF 20km Race Walking Challenge at Taicang, China, on Saturday.

Khushbir clocked 1:34.01s and her effort was nearly two minutes faster than the qualification time (1:36) for the World Championship in London in August.

National women’s record holder Khushbir Kaur finished fifth while Manish Singh Rawat was sixth in the men’s event in the IAAF 20km Race Walking Challenge at Taicang, China, on Saturday.

Khushbir, the 2014 Asian Games silver medallist who was kept out of the Indian team for the Race Walking Asians earlier this year after she skipped the Nationals, clocked 1:34.01s. Her effort was nearly two minutes faster than the qualification time (1:36) for the World Championship in London in August.

China’s Lu Xiuzhi, the silver medallist at the last Worlds in Beijing two years ago, won the gold.

Manish Singh Rawat’s time of 1:23.58 was also better than the entry standard for the Worlds (1:24.00). However, both Khushbir and Manish had made the grade for the Worlds last year itself since the entry gates for the championships opened on January 1, 2016.

Many top stars, including Olympic champion Wang Zhen and silver medallist Cai Zelin, skipped the men’s event which was won by Brazilian Caio Bonfim who was fourth in last year’s Rio Olympics.

The results:

Men: 1. Caio Bonfim (Bra) 1:22.16s, 2. Julio Cesar Salazar (Mex) 1:22.58, 3. Lebogang Shange (S. Af.) 1:23.45, 6. Manish Singh Rawat (Ind) 1:23.58.

Women: 1. Lu Xiuzhi (Chn) 1:31.01s, 2. Yang Jiayu (Chn) 1:31.04, 3. Wang Na (1:31.09), 5. Khushbir Kaur (Ind) 1:34.01.