National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2023: Bhawna Jat pips Priyanka Goswami to win 20km race walk

Tokyo Olympian Bhawna Jat won the women’s 20km race walk at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2023 in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

Bhawna Jat crossed the finish line in one hour, thirty-seven minutes and three seconds (1:37:03) and achieved a new meet record in the 62nd edition of the inter-state championships.

However, Bhawna Jat could not breach the Asian Games qualifying standard of 1:35:00 for the women’s 20km race walk event set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

The National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships is the final selection trial for the Asian Games 2023, scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China from September 23 to October 8.

Priyanka Goswami, who won a silver medal in the 10km race walk at the Commonwealth Games 2022 last year, clocked 1:40:33 for the second spot. Vandana came third with a time of 1:41:54.

Olympian Sandeep Kumar won the men’s 20km race walk in 1:27:12 followed by Servin S (1:28:21) and Hardeep (1:28:57). The Asian Games entry standard for men’s 20km race walkers was 1:23:30.

Meanwhile, the men’s 10,000m run saw four athletes breach the qualifying mark of 29:30.00 for the Asian Games.

Kartik Kumar claimed gold with a meet record of 29:01.84. Gulveer Singh (29:03.78) and Pritam Kumar (29:22.36) followed Kartik Kumar on the podium. Harman Jot Singh clocked 29:26.86 and came fourth.

Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav, an Asian championships bronze medallist in 5000m, came second in the women’s 10,000m race with a timing of 34:34.10. The race was won by Seema in 34:20.01 while Poonam Dinkar Sonune came third in 34:45.42. The entry standard for the 2023 Asian Games was 32:30.24.

Only four finals were held on Thursday.

Anjali Devi, a 2018 national champion, meanwhile, topped the women’s 400m heats by clocking 52.89s, beating the Asian Games qualification mark by 0.07 seconds.

World U20 championships medallists Rupal Choudhary and Priya Mohan did not participate while 16-year-old Rezoana Mallick Heena, who was recently crowned the U20 Asian champion, made the cut for Friday’s 400m semi-finals with a timing of 55.20s.

The men’s 400m saw 2018 Asian Games silver medallist Muhammed Anas Yahiya top the heats in 46.48s. Arokia Rajiv, a member of Indian men’s 400m relay team which won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games, also qualified for Friday’s semi-finals with a timing of 47.45.

Jyothi Yarraji, meanwhile, topped the heats in women’s 100m with a timing of 11.65s. Veteran Srabani Nanda also qualified for Friday’s semi-finals in 11.79s.