B. Soumya set a new National record, beat the favourite and booked herself a ticket to the Gold Coast with a blistering finish in the final lap of the 20km category at the 5th National race walking championships here on Sunday.
Soumya, who belongs to Kerala but has represented Delhi in the event since being posted here with the CRPF, crossed the finish line in 1:31:28.72 seconds, almost 10 minutes faster than her previous personal best and more than 11 seconds quicker than the previous mark of 1:31:40.00 set by Khushbir Kaur in 2014. Her own previous best was 1:41:04.
Favourite Khushbir, who led for 19 of the 20 laps, finished second with 1:32:16.96, while sister Karamjit was third (1:34:08.60). All three, were within the qualifying mark of 1:35:00 set by the AFI to be considered for selection for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in April.
The top two timings were also inside the qualifying standards set for the Asian Games.
“I am so happy to have won this race. Last year I was returning from an injury but now I am in very good shape. This is the first time I have beaten Khushbir and it is a very important win for me as the Commonwealth Games would be my first international tournament,” Soumya said.
Irfan on top
Among the men, national record holder K.T. Irfan could not better his own best performance from London Olympics but still managed to finish at the top with a timing of 1:21:31:25, two seconds ahead of Rio Olympian Manish Rawat, who clocked 1:23:31.72.
Neeraj completed the podium with a time of 1:21:39.20, all three men also finishing well inside the qualification standard of 1:23:00 seconds set for both the CWG and the Asian Games.
A final team for both the CWG and the Asiad, however, would only be named by the Athletics Federation of India after the Asian race walking championships in Nomi, Japan, on March 18. All the podium finishers here are expected to participate at the Asian meet.
The results (20km): Men: K.T. Irfan 1:21:31:25s, 2. Manish Rawat 1:23:31.72, 3. Neeraj 1:21:39.20.
Women: B. Soumya 1:31:28.72, 2. Khushbir Kaur 1:32:16.96, 3. Karamjit Kaur 1:34:08.60 .
