Tokyo Olympics | Irfan KT qualifies for 2020 Olympics in race walking

Tokyo Olympics | Irfan KT qualifies for 2020 Olympics in race walking

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India’s race walker Irfan Kolothum Thodi managed to get a berth in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after he finished fourth in the Asian race Walking championship on Sunday. This will be Irfan’s second stint in the Olympics after he had previously participated in the 2012 London edition seven years back.

Irfan finished the 20km walk clocking 1:20.57 in Nomi, Japan, which was enough for him to get the standard qualification mark to get into the biggest quadrennial extravaganza in the world. Though this saw him finishing only fourth in the competition, it was also enough for him to qualify in the upcoming IAAF World Championship in Doha that has been scheduled to from September 27 to October 6.

Irfan hasn’t been the only race walker to make into the World Championship as compatriot Devinder and Ganapati also made it to the grand event clocking timings of 1:21.22 and 1:22.12 respectively.

This isn’t the first time that Irfan has made it to the Olympic finals though. The last time he qualified for it was back in 2012 where the race walker had set the Indian national record in the 20 km category clocking 1:20:21 and was also ranked 10th.

He was one of India’s biggest hope in the 2018 Commonwealth Games as well but was accused of violating the no needle policy along with fellow athlete Rakesh Babu after a cleaner had found a syringe in their room. When questioned about it by the Australian anti-doping officials, the pair couldn’t give reliable evidence and were consequently sent home.

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