Some of the country's top athletes, including Rio Olympians, are set to take part in the National Race Walking Championship to be held here on February 18 and 19.
Max Bupa Health Insurance company will be the title sponsor and it has set aside a prize purse of Rs 4 lakh for the event.
The men's and women's 20km as well as the men's 50km event will be held on February 18 and the competitors will compete in a 1km loop on Vinay Marg.
There will be a 10km race walk for the juniors on February 19 to be held on the 'Rajpath' as part of 'Max Bupa Walk for Health', an annual initiative that endeavours to make India a 'walking' nation. Max Bupa's association with Athletics Federation of India for this event will be of five years.
Two foreign experts from Britain, who are also international race walk judges, will come for the championship as athletes can also qualify for the London World Championships in August through this event.
Six Indians -- K Ganapathi, Manish Singh Rawat and Gurmeet Singh (all men's 20km) and Sandeep Kumar (men's 50km), Khusbir Kaur and Sapna (both women's 20km) -- took part in the Rio Olympics, and the Athletics Federation of India is expecting most of them to take part in the championship.
Khushbir, who was present at the press conference to announce the championship, caused a flutter when she said that her participation could be decided by her coach Alexander Artsybashev.
"I am perfectly fit, there is no injury and I am happy with my training and preparation. I hope to take part in the championship but my coach will take the final decision on my participation," she said.
AFI President Adille Sumariwalla, who was also present on the dais, was quick to point out that the federation would expect all athletes to take part in the championship if they are not injured and he has no knowledge of any other plan of the coach.
"We expect all athletes to take part in the championship unless they are injured. This is of course subject to their fitness. If an athlete has an injury and his/her participation can cause an injury, then it is obvious that his/her coach will be against his/her taking part in the championship. We will accept it and that is without saying," he said.
"I don't know what her coach (Alexander) had told her. I have no knowledge and AFI has not been told or informed by Alexander that she may not take part," he added.
In the previous National Championships held in Jaipur last year, Gurmeet Singh (1:21:24) won the men's 20km event gold while Khushbir Kaur (1:34:52) was the winner in the women's 20km competition.
The men's 50km event gold medal was won by Basant Bahadur Rana (4:07:24). In the junior category, Vikash Singh (44:32:50) and Neena K T (53:12:49) were the winners in the men's 10km and women's 10km events respectively.
The event will also serve as a selection trial for the Asian Race Walking Championship to be held at Nomi Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan later this year.
Sumariwalla further said, "It is wonderful to see that a
sport like race walk is today gaining patrons like Max Bupa. Max Bupa is a leader in its segment and a trusted health care partner to millions. This partnership is a testimony to Max Bupa's commitment to help people lead healthier and more successful lives and highlights the important role of corporates in promoting sports culture in the country.
"The partnership will provide a big boost to the sport in country because it is for the first time National Race Walking Championships will be organized at such a grand scale. The support from Max Bupa has come just at the right moment as our team is preparing for Asian Championships to be held next month in Japan. We believe that this kind of support to the sporting events will help Indian athletes to do even better at the Tokyo 2020 Games."
Speaking about the partnership, Ashish Mehrotra, MD & CEO, Max Bupa said, "It's a great moment for us as we enter into an alliance with the AFI to promote walking as a sport in the country. We, at Max Bupa, have been consistently promoting the cause of Walking in India for the past five years under our flagship event 'Max Bupa Walk for Health'.
"Through the alliance with AFI, our endeavour is to evangelise walking as a serious sport in India and encourage more and more Indians to incorporate walking into their daily lives. Our endeavour is to help 'Race Walking' gain recognition as a mainstream sport and inspire the nation to lead healthier, more successful lives.
