Race walkers Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh Bisht qualify for Paris Olympics 2024

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Nomi (Japan), Mar 19: Race walkers Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh Bisht qualified for the Paris Olympics 20234 and World Championships 2023 after finishing second and third respectively at the Asian 20km Race Walking Championships here on Sunday.

Vikash took the silver medal with a timing of 1:20:05 seconds while Paramjeet finished right behind him at 1:20:08 seconds. China's Qian Haifeng took the gold medal with a timing of 1:19:09 seconds.

The timings were enough to breach the qualifying standard of 1:20:10 seconds for both Olympics and World Championships.

Akashdeep Singh, who has already qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics as well as 2023 World Athletics Championships by winning the National Championships last month, clinched gold in the official entry category, clocking 1:20:57, and finished fifth overall.

As per the competition rules, a country can send athletes in the open categories -- besides the official entry -- for the purpose of giving exposure to them but their performance will not be counted as official.

India had sent four men and three women race walkers in the open category, besides the two official entries -- one man and one woman -- in the continental event.

Suraj Panwar and Hardeep, the two other Indians in the open category, clocked 1:22:31 and 1:25:38 respectively.

Priyanka Goswami, who has also already qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics as well as 2023 World Athletics Championships by winning the National Championships last month, clinched bronze in the women's official entry category, clocking 1:32:27, and finished fourth overall.

Munita Ptajapati and Bhawna Jat missed the Olympics and World Championships qualifying mark of 1:29:20 by a big margin, clocking 1:33:22 and 1:36:20 respectively in the open category.

The third Indian woman in the open category, Sonal Sukhwal did not start the race.

India now has four race walkers who have qualified for the 2024 Olympics as well as World Championships.

With inputs from PTI