AFI is hosting trials for the World Olympiad in race walking

The Athletics Federation of India will host trials for 29 athletes on February 12 at Bengaluru’s SAI Centre to pick the Indian team for the World Athletics Race Walking Championships, which will be held on March 4 and 5 in Muscat.

Due to an increase in COVID-19 instances, the AFI was unable to hold the National Open race walking earlier this month, necessitating the trials.

The chosen walkers must arrive at the venue at 6 a.m., with the trials beginning at 7 a.m.

The federation has also decided on the distance that walkers must cover in each of their categories.

At the trials, the following events, Atheletes, distances were choosen:

20km (15km time trial): Men: Sandeep Kumar, Hardeep, Vikas Singh, Juned Khan, Chandan Singh, Devender Singh. Women: Priyanka, Bhawna Jat, Sonal Sukhwal, Ravina, Rakhi Kushbala, Pooja Kumar.

35km (25km time trial): Men: Ram Baboo, Agar Joshi, Surinder Singh, Ganpathi Krishnan, Eknath Sambhaji, Gurpreet Singh. Women: Ramandeep Kaur, Sonal Sukhwal, Priyanka Patel, Manju Rani.

Juniors, 10km (5km time trial): Men: Bajrangi Prajapati, Amit, Aditya Negi, Anshul Dhaundiyal, Gajender Negi. Women: Reshma Patel, Rachana

Olympians Priyanka Goswami and Sandeep Kumar are among the finest athletes attending the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Bengaluru Training Center’s national race walking programme.

Priyanka, a 25-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, was one of several athletes looking forward to the National Open Race Walking Championships in Ranchi on February 5-6. However, due to an increase of COVID-19 cases in Jharkhand, the event was postponed. The National Race Walk is now set to take place in April.

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games are two significant competitions this year, in addition to the Eugene World Athletics Championships.

Amit Khatri, a World U20 silver winner in the men’s 10km, is also attending the Bengaluru national camp.

Two-time Olympian KT Irfan of the Indian Army is training with a group of athletes in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, at a high altitude. Chandan Singh, an international race walker, is also present.