Suraj Panwar joins Paris Olympics qualifiers

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, January 30

Suraj Panwar’s silver medal finish in the 11th Indian Open Race Walking at Sukhna Lake gave him a chance to join the group of Paris Olympics qualifiers.

Panwar (23) of Uttarakhand battled for supremacy along with Punjab’s Akshdeep (24) in the 20km power walk event. Both athletes bettered the Paris Olympic Games qualification time of 1:20:10. Panwar clocked 1:19:44.00s to claim the second position.

Servin of Tamil Nadu finished third (1:20:03.00s) in the men’s 20km, while Arshpreet Singh of Punjab stood fourth (1:20:04.00).

Only three athletes will be eligible to represent India at the Olympics, said Radhakrishnan Nair, chief athletics coach. The final selection will take place in June.

Driver’s daughter sets record

Haryana’s Aarti hogged the limelight as she set a new national record in the under-20 age group of women’s 10km race walk. The daughter of a diver, Aarti clocked 47:03s (47 minutes and three seconds) to surpass the previous national record of 49:01s created by Mansi Negi in 2021.