Indian trio upgraded to bronze 7 years after IAAF World Race Walking Cup

2 minBy Naveen Peter
World Race Walking Cup Saransk 2012

Seven years after they came agonisingly close to sharing the podium at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup event in Russia, the trio of KT Irfan, Babubhai Panucha, and Surinder Singh were handed a bronze medal upgrade for their performance in the men’s 20km race walk in Saransk following the disqualification of a member of the second-placed Ukrainian team for a doping violation.

"Men's 20km Race Walking Team is elevated to Bronze Medal position after 7 years at IAAF Race Walking World Cup held at Saransk #Russia in 2012.” @afiindia

At the event held in Russia just ahead of the 2012 London Olympics, the Indian team had finished fourth behind China, Ukraine, and Australia.

However, with Ukrainian race walker Ruslan Dmytrenko being disqualified on the basis of his biological passport analysis, the Indians were granted the upgrade.

To decide the team rankings, the officials considered the performances of the three best finishers from each country.

This saw India accumulate a total of 68 points, which included Irfan’s 14th place finish, Panucha’s 19th place finish, and Surinder’s 29th place finish,.

The Ukrainians too ended with 68 points despite annulling Dmytrenko's result.

However, by virtue of the Indian race walkers managing better performances than the three Ukrainians - Surinder’s 29th place finish to Andriy Kovenko’s 62nd place finish - the Indians were upgraded to the third spot.

Dmytrenko, meanwhile, was also stripped off his bronze medal from the individual event.

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