JOIN USSoumya B stunned Khushbir Kaur to grab the gold medal in the women's 20km walk in the National Race Walking Championships on Sunday. In the process, Soumya shattered the national record and won the ticket to the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
The Delhi-based Soumya, who is originally from Thiruvananthapuram but serves in the CRPF here, produced a sensational finish to pip Khushbir in the final stretch in a time of 1:31:28.72. She beat the mark of 1:31:40.00 set by Khushbir in Taicang in 2014. The cut for Commonwealth Games was kept at 1:33:00.
Incheon Asian Games silver medallist Khushbir, who led for nearly 18km, finished second with a time of 1:32:16.96. Her sister, Karamjit, clocked a personal best of 1:34:08.60 to take the third place.
"Last year I was returning from an injury but now I am in very good shape. This is the first time I am beating Khushbir. It is a very important win for me," said Soumya, whose previous best was 1:41:04, that came last year.
Khushbir, on the other hand, said she wasn't worried by her defeat. "My goal was simply to finish under the qualification standard here and I managed to do that," she said.
The men's 20km event was keenly fought with K T Irfan edging past Manish Rawat. Irfan, whose national record stands at 1:20:21.00, clocked 1:21:31.25 to claim the gold. Rawat, who had finished 13th at the Rio Olympics, clocked 1:23:31.72. Neeraj of Haryana completed the podium with a time of 1:21:39.20. All three walkers finished inside the AFI's qualification guideline of 1:23:00 for the Commonwealth Games.
Irfan, who finished 10th at the London Olympics, said: "Now that I have qualified for the Commonwealth Games, I want to finish inside the 1 hour 19 minutes and 30 seconds mark.
The gold, silver and bronze medallists in the men's and women's categories received Rs 30,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 20,000. The winners in the men's 50km event on Saturday received Rs 30,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.
AFI may rest top walkers
The AFI, meanwhile, is considering resting its top 20km walkers for the Asian Championships in Nomi in Japan (March 19) keeping the Commonwealth Games in view.
"The time gap between Asian Championships and Commonwealth Games, which is our focus, is very less. The Asian Championships will not give much time to our walkers to recover for Commonwealth Games. We will take a decision on it in a meeting tomorrow," AFI Secretary C K Valson said.
Some participants in the men's 20km event also protested their disqualification by the judges during the race.