Two national records in walk events at IAAF World Race Walking Cup

New Delhi: In a sensational outing, Indian walkers notched up two new National records at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup at Taicang (China) today while two other men walkers managed to produce their personal bests in the prestigious championship.

First, India’s 27-year-old armyman Sandeep Kumar created a new National record in the men’s 50km walk. Kumar, the walking sensation from Mahendergarh in Haryana and employed with Jat Regiment Centre, clocked 3:56:22 to finish 23rd in the individual category at the World Cup. He bettered the existing National mark of Basant Bahadur Rana, who clocked 3:56:48 in the 2012 Olympics.

Later, India’s woman walking star Khushbir Kaur erased her own National record in the 20km event, clocking 1:31:40, to finish 35th in the Cup. Kaur’s previous record, 1:33:37, was set only recently at the Asian Race Walking Championship in Nomi (Japan) on March 16, 2014.

Russia’s Anisya Kirdyapkina clocked 1:26:31 to take the winning cheque in the women’s 20km event in the China meet while local girl Hong Liu took the silver with a timing of 1:26:58.

Two other Indian men in the fray in 50km event, Manish Singh Rawat and Surinder Singh notched up their personal bests in the race, which is considered to be the most gruelling events in athletics. Overall, the Indian Walkers Team finished in seventh place in the World Cup which witnessed as many as 30 countries participating in the 50km event.

Rawat clocked 4:02:08 to finish 32nd in the 50km individual event, Singh finished in 37th place with 4:09:17, while Patel was 43rd overall, clocking 4:17:03.

The Russians were on a rampage as four of them grabbed the top-5 slot in the men’s 50km individual event and they easily retained the team title. Favourite for the individual event, Australia’s three-time Olympic medallist Jared Tallent, however, failed to break his gold medal jinx and finished with a bronze. He clocked 3:42:48 while Russia’s Mikhail Ryzhov clinched his first major international title with an impressive timing of 3:39:05. The 22-year-old walker from Saransk (Russia) became one of the youngest winners of the Cup and the sixth Russian to win the 50km event in the previous seven editions.