Ram Baboo: 'Happy To Achieve Paris Olympics Qualification Mark'

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Great news came on Saturday from Indian athletics as race walker Ram Baboo has achieved the Paris Olympics men's 20 km race qualification standard, clocking a personal best time of 1:20:00 at the Dudinska 50 Meet in Slovakia.

Ram Baboo, who won the bronze medal in the mixed 35 km race walker with Manju Rani at the Hangzhou Asian Games, shared his thoughts with myKhel in an Exclusive conversation moments after his podium finish at the Race Walking Tour Gold-Level event.

"It will be my first Olympics, and I'll try to give my best performance there," said Ram Baboo. The Paris Olympics standard for men's 20 km race walk is 1:20:10. It's very difficult to achieve that mark. The 20 km qualifying mark was tough, but when I shifted from 35 Km to 20 Km, my only focus was to qualify for the Olympics."

Baboo, who won the gold medal at the National Games 2022, is also the seventh male walker from the country to surpass the qualifying standard. Joining him are Akshdeep Singh, Suraj Panwar, Servin Sebastian, Arshpreet Singh, Pramjeet Bisht, and Vikas Singh.

2022 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Priyanka Goswami stands as the only female walker to qualify for the Paris Olympics, accomplishing this at the National Open Race Walking Championships in Jharkhand last year.

In the Olympics, each country can only send three athletes for each track and field event. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will decide which three race walkers out of the seven will go to the Paris Games. The final selection will be done in June, according to the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

Baboo also holds the national record in men's 35 km race walk with a time of 2:29:56, which he set at Dudinska 50 last year. He added, 'I will work on my speed, technique, and endurance."