New Delhi: Three Indian race walkers -- Khushbir Kaur, Manish Rawat and Sandeep Kumar -- on Sunday qualified for next year's Rio Olympics after creditable performances in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge at Rio Maior in Portugal.
National women's 20km walk record holder Khushbir Kaur clocked 1:33:58, better than Rio 2016 qualification time of 1:35, though she finished 13th in the race.
In the men's 20km race walk, Manish Rawat logged a personal best performance to finish in top 10 with a timing of 1:22:50, well above Rio Games qualification time of 1:24.
National 50km race walk record holder Sandeep Kumar also qualified for Rio Games with a 14th-place finish in 1:23:32 though he received one warning.
Third walker in men's 20km race walk, Devender Singh missed out on the qualification with 18th place finish in 1:24:57. The fourth 4th walker Ganpathy Krishnan finished on 29th place with 1:27:05.
India's race walk squad were currently training in Rio Maior, Portugal, with the primary objective of Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification. They took part in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge, also called Rio Maior Race Walking International Grand Prix.
