National Open Race Walking Championships 2022 to be held in Ranchi on February 5-6
The race walking nationals will also serve as a qualifying event for the world athletics championships 2022 in July.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will hold the National Open Race Walking Championships 2022 in Ranchi, Jharkhand, on February 5 and 6.
The ninth edition of the race walking nationals will also serve as a qualifying event for the world athletics championships in July 2022.
The AFI competition is expected to feature 35km and 20km race walk events for both men and women.
A lack of women participants in the 35km walk in the 2021 edition had forced the national federation to cancel the event. The AFI will not hold the 50km walk in the 2022 edition.
For Under-20 men and women, the AFI will hold 10km walks.
Olympian Manish Rawat, with the timing of 2 hours 49 minutes and 12 seconds (2:49:12), had won the inaugural men’s 35km event in February 2021.
The 30-year-old from Uttarakhand, who represented India at the Rio 2016 Olympics**,** will have to beat 2:33:00 to qualify for the world championships in the USA.
In the men’s 20km, Sandeep Kumar won the title in 2021 with a national record timing of 1:20:16.
Priyanka Goswami, meanwhile, is expected to defend her title in the women’s 20km race walk. She won the event in 2021, setting a national record of 1:28:25.