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The Race Walkers' Trio
The three big names in the race walking front here in India, Khushbir Kaur, Manish Rawat and Sandeep Kumar have qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics after clocking impressive times at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge held at Rio Maior, Portugal. Kaur, who holds the national women's 20km walk record clocked 1:33:58, with the qualification time for Rio being 1:35; thereby securing a spot despite finishing 13th in the race. Rawat displayed a personal best, finishing in the top 10 and clocking a timing of 1:22:50 in the men's 20km race walk. The Rio qualification time was 1:24. Kumar, another national record holder in the 50km race walk also qualified for the 2016 Rio Games, finishing 14th with a time of 1:23:32. Get set to cheer for the Indian trio of race walkers at the Rio Olympics!
Men's Hockey Team
With a superb performance at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, the Indian mens Hocky team bagged the gold medal at the event, gaining a direct qualification to the 2016 Summer Games at Rio. This feat itself came as a welcome surprise, as the last time India managed to bag a gold at the Asian Games was all the way back in the year 1998. Defeating arch rivals Pakistan, the men in blue won the nerve-wracking match this time around, breaking the deadlock which seemed never-ending. The match had to be decided through a penalty shoot-out and the Indian team managed to block their opponents’ attempts at scoring impressively; the final score was 4-2.
All eyes will be on the team to make India proud.
Gagan Narang
Ace shooter Gagan Narang managed to secure a quota berth in the 2016 Summer Olympics after he bagged the bronze medal in the 50m Rifle Prone Event of the ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning in USA. Although he failed to qualify for the 10 m rifle event, he redeemed himself by managing this feat and became the third shooter to be representing India at the upcoming games, after Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela.
Narang had won the bronze medal in the 10 m rifle event itself at the 2012 London Olympics.
