Walker Ravina wins gold in Japan meet

Nomi (Japan), March 18

Neeraj Rathi and Karamjit Kaur finished fourth and eighth in the men’s and women’s events, respectively, at the Asian 20km Race Walking Championship.

Rathi clocked 1 hour 25 minutes and 33 seconds, while Kaur had a timing of 1:58:22. In the open category (women), Ravina of Haryana won the gold in an impressive timing of 1:35:35 which is better than that of India’s official entry Karamjit Kaur.

Ravina even finished overall second behind Duan Dandan (1:35:12) but her performance will not be counted for medal purposes as she is not the official entry from India. She had finished fifth in the National Championships with a timing of 1:35:45.

A country can send entries in the open categories for the purpose of giving exposure to the athletes but their performance will not be counted as official. India had sent four men and two women race walkers in the open category, besides the two official entries — one man and one woman — in the continental event. Rathi had finished third in the men’s 20km event in the National Championships last month with a timing of 1:21.39 while Kaur had won the bronze in the women’s 20km competition with timing of 1:34.08.

The top two finishers in the National Championships have been named in the  team for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. — PTI