Akshdeep betters National record; Manju Rani clinches women’s title

Punjab's Akshdeep Singh breaks national record in men's 20km race walking, while Manju Rani wins women's gold.

Punjab’s Akshdeep Singh broke his own year-old National record as he won the men’s 20km title in race walking’s Indian Open in Chandigarh on Tuesday.

Also bettering the national record was Uttarakhand’s Suraj Panwar. Akshdeep finished in 1:19:38s to retain his title while Suraj clocked 1:19:44. Tamil Nadu’s Servin (1:20:03) and Punjab’s Arshpreet Singh (1:20:04) took the next two spots.

The top four finishers bettered the Paris Olympics qualification standard of 1:20:10s. Two others, Paramjeet Singh Bisht and Vikash Singh, who achieved the Paris Olympics entry standard last year, finished in the top 10 today. However, only three can go to Paris and the final team is expected to be decided in June.

Punjab’s Manju Rani won the women’s 20km gold (1:33.00s) in the absence of National women’s record-holder Priyanka Goswami who is now training in Australia. Priyanka had qualified for Paris in 2023.

In the under-20 category, Uttarakhand’s Himanshu Kumar (Utk) won the 10km title while the junior women’s winner Aarti of Haryana broke the national record on her way to gold.

The results: Men: 20km: 1. Akshdeep Singh (Pun) 1:19:38s National record, OR own 1:19.55s, 2023, 2. Suraj Panwar (Utk) 1:19:44.00, 3. Servin (Tamil Nadu) 1:20:03.00.

Women: 20km: 1. Manju Rani (Pun) 1:33:00s, 2. Payal (Utk) 1:33:28, 3. Munita Prajapati (Utk) 1:34.14.