11 racewalkers to represent India in various categories at Race Walking Team Championships

Five Indians — Ram Baboo, Suraj Panwar, Servin Sebastian, Arshpreet Singh and Vikash Singh — in the men’s section and two — Ramandeep Kaur and Mokavi Muthurathinam — in the women’s section will be representing India in the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Antalya 24 to be held on Sunday (April 21).

Paramjeet Singh Bisht, Akashdeep Singh along with women runners Munita Prajapati and Priyanka will be taking part in the marathon race walk mixed relay to be held simultaneously.

The 11 Indians are among the 431 racewalkers from 52 countries that will descend on Turkiye with several spots available for the upcoming Paris Olympic Games starting on July 26.

A total of 198 athletes (108 men, 90 women) are entered for the senior 20km races, while 106 athletes (56 men, 50 women) are set to compete in the U20 races, the World Athletics informed while releasing the entry lists for various competitions on Thursday.

The marathon race walk mixed relay makes its World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships debut in Antalya, with Paris 2024 Olympic Games places up for grabs. While the entries by country list features the names of athletes entered by each nation for the relay, athletes entered for other events in Antalya can also be included in the final composition of mixed relay teams.

China topped the medal table in the last edition of the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat, Oman, in 2022, with a total of six gold medals.

Ma Zhenxia was among the winners two years ago and she is entered to defend her senior women’s 20km title fresh from setting a Personal Best timing of 1:26:07 at the Chinese Race Walking Grand Prix in Taicang on March 3. Peru’s double 2022 world champion Kimberly Garcia, who was third in Muscat, and Ecuador’s Glenda Morejon, who won the 35km race in Muscat, are expected to provide tough opposition.

The fields are stacked and listed for the mixed relay alone are all three reigning Olympic race walk champions – Italy’s Antonella Palmisano, Italy’s Massimo Stano and Poland’s Dawid Tomala – plus Spain’s Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez, who both achieved a 20km and 35km race walk double at last year’s World Championships in Budapest.

Tokyo Olympic medallists Lorena Arenas of Colombia, Evan Dunfee of Canada, Jonathan Hilbert of Germany, Koki Ikeda of Japan and Liu Hong of China are also among those listed, as are 2023 world medallists Caio Bonfim of Brazil, Masatora Kawano of Japan and Jemima Montag of Australia.

Sweden’s four-time world medallist Perseus Karlstrom is entered for the senior men’s 20km, two years on from winning the 35km title in Muscat. Bonfim is also listed for this event, along with Ecuador’s world 35km silver medallist Brian Pintado, Germany’s Christopher Linke, Japan’s Ryo Hamanishi and Spain’s Paul McGrath.