India to send four race walkers for CWG 2018

The selection committee of Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Monday declared the Indian 20km Race Walking team for the 21st Commonwealth Games starting from April 4 in Gold Coast, Australia.

The Indian men's 20km team will comprise Irfan KT and Manish Singh Rawat, who won gold silver medals, respectively, at the recently concluded 5th National Race Walking Championships.

Irfan won the National Championships title with the timing of 1:21:31.25 seconds while Manish finished clocked 1:21.31.72.

In women's 20km category, Soumya B, who won National Championships with a new national record timing of 1:31:28.72 seconds, and silver medalist Khushbir Kaur (1:32:16.96) will represent India at the CWG 2018.

The selection committee also announced that there will be no selection trials for the Asian Games 2018 to be held in Jakarta from August 22.

The performance of walkers in Asian 20 kmRace Walk Championships, IAAF Race Walk Championships and Commonwealth Games will be assessed and considered for selecting Indian team for the Asian Games.

The selection committee which met under the chairmanship of Olympian GS Randhawa picked Sandeep Singh and Jitendra Singh Rathore for men's 50km Indian team for the IAAF World Race Walking Championships to be held in Taicang, China on May 6.

Meanwhile, the official Indian entry for Asian 20km Race Walking Championships to be held in Japan's Nomi from March 18 includes-- Neeraj Rathi (men, 1:21.39) and Karamjit Kaur (women, 1:34.08).

In the open entry for Nomi event, the selection committee has nominated Sunil (1:21:52), Eknath Sambhaji (1:21:54), Kulwant Singh (1:22:09) and Vikash Singh (1:22:38) in the Men's 20km category while Shanti Kumari (1:34:56) and Ravina (1:35:45) in women's event.

Based on the performance in Nomi, the Indian team of two athletes each in 20km men and women will be selected for the IAAF World Race Walking Championships, China.