Irfan gets ticket to Tokyo

New Delhi, March 17 

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National record holder KT Irfan became the first Indian from athletics to qualify for the next year’s Olympics while finishing fourth in the 20km event of the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan. 

The 29-year-old Irfan clocked 1 hr, 20 minutes and 57s to better the Tokyo Olympics qualification standard of 1 hr, 21 minutes. The Olympics qualification period for the race walk events and marathon race began on January 1, 2019, and will run till May 31, 2020. The Olympics qualification period for all other athletics events would run from May 1 this year until June 29, 2020. No other Indian from athletics has so far qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

Irfan also qualified for this year’s World Championships (September 27-October 6) in Doha, Qatar, as he bettered the qualifying mark of 1:22.30. The Kerala race walker had won the 20km event in the National Open Race Walk Championships in Chennai last month with a time of 1:26.18. He was one of the two Indian athletes who were expelled from the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games for not adhering to the no needle policy of the Games. He was disqualified in the 20km race walk event of the 2018 Asian Games after receiving his third warning for loss of contact (with the ground).

Yamanishi wins

Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi won the 20km race walk event with an impressive time of 1:17.15 while Kazakhstan’s Georgiy Sheiko and South Korea’s Byeongkwang Choe were second and third in 1:20.21 and 1:20.40, respectively. The Asian and world record in the men’s 20 km race walk stands in the name of Japanese Yusuke Suzuki who clocked 1:16.36 in the 2015 edition of the same championships in Nomi. Two other Indians, Devinder Singh and Ganapathi Krishnan, also qualified for the World Championships as they clocked 1:21.22 and 1:22.12, respectively. They had finished second and fifth in the Chennai National Race Walk Championships with timings of 1:26.19 and 1:26.43, respectively.

Soumya finishes fourth

In the women’s 20km race walk event, Soumya Baby finished fourth with a timing of 1:36.08, well outside the Olympics qualifying standard of 1:31.00. — PTI 

Numbers game

• 1:20.57The 29-year-old Irfan clocked 1 hr, 20 minutes and 57s to finish fourth in the 20 km event of the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan
• 1:20.21Irfan’s time in his 10th-place finish at the 2012 Olympics in London, also his personal best
• 2 Devinder Singh and Ganapathi Krishnan, two other Indians, who qualified for the World Championships as they clocked 1:21.22 and 1:22.12, respectively. 
• 1:21The Tokyo Olympics qualification standard. The qualification period for the race walk events and marathon race will run till May 31, 2020