Akshdeep Singh sets national record at 11th National Open Walking Championship, Manju Rani wins women's event 

Akshdeep Singh broke his own national record in the 11th National Open Walking Championship hosted by Chandigarh. The Punjab-based athlete won the gold medal in the men's 20 km category by clocking in at 1:19:37.56.

Notably, Akshdeep had already qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics at last year's National Open Walking Championship.

Suraj Panwar secured qualification time for the 2024 Paris Olympics (1:20:10) by finishing second. He took the silver medal home after clocking 1:19:43.08. Apart from Akshdeep Singh and Suraj Panwar, Arshpreet Singh and Servin also met the qualifying standard of the 2024 Olympics in the men's 20 km walk.

Servin claimed the bronze medal with a timing of 1:20:03 while Arshpreet Singh narrowly missed out on the podium, clocking 1:20:04. In total, six Indian athletes have now met the Olympics standard. Last year, Vikas Singh and Paramjeet Bisht also clocked under 1:20:10.

Each national federation can send a maximum of three athletes for the race walk event at the Olympics. Akshdeep Singh is likely to grab one of the spots, with the announcement expected to be made in June.

Akshdeep Singh dominates the men's 20 km event, Manju Rani and Sahil bag gold in other categories

While Singh set a new national record in the men's 20 km event, Manju Rani finished first in the women's 20 km walk as well as the women’s 10 km event in the senior group. Meanwhile, Sahil, who finished fifth in the men's 20 km walk, attained the pole position in the 10 km event.

Speaking of the women's 20 km race walk, Manju Rani finished first with a timing of 1:34:16.67. Uttarakhand's Payal won the silver medal for clocking 1:34:45.10 while the bronze medal went to Uttar Pradesh's Munita Prajapati, who achieved a timing of 1:35:36.16.

The Olympics standard timing in the women's 20 km event is 1:29:20. Unfortunately, none of the Indian athletes could match that timing in Chandigarh.