Walkers Basanta Bahadur Rana and Sandeep Kumar clocked timings better than the ‘B' qualification standard for the Olympic Games in the 50km event at the World Race Walking Cup at Saransk, Russia, on Sunday.
Rana came 32nd in 4:02:13 while Sandeep was 36th in 4:03:45. The ‘B' qualification standard stands at 4:09:00. If both have to make it to London, both need to clock the ‘A' standard of 3:59:00.
Both the Indians came under the existing National record of 4:16:22 in the name of Gurdev Singh who set in Hyderbad in 2005.
One of them will join the three walkers in 20km (Gurmeet Singh, Baljinder Singh and K. T. Irfan) who have qualified for the London Games.
With Chandan Singh (4:16:23) contributing a 57th placing, the Indian team took the 10th place in the team standings. The fourth walker, Gurpreet Singh, clocked 4:21:19 for the 62nd place. The best three results for a country are taken into account or team placings.
India had finished fifth in the team standings in the 20km event on Saturday, its best ever rating in a global athletics event.
The success story of the Indian walkers did not stretch into the women's section, where Khushbir Kaur finished 70th in the 20km event on Sunday in 1:44:07.
The 18-year-old Punjab girl had set a national record of 1:37:28 at Patiala last month. The Olympic qualification mark to be achieved in a designated meet is 1:38:00.
