Gurmeet Singh scripts history at Asian meet
Image Courtesy: © Twitter - Asian Athletics
Indian race walker Gurmeet Singh scripted history on Sunday after becoming the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the Asian 20km Race Walk Championship. The 30-year old won the men’s event with the season’s best effort and has made a case for himself to board the flight to Rio.
Gurmeet completed the race in 1 hour 20 minutes and 29 seconds to finish first beating Japan’s Isamu Fujisawa (1:20:49) and Kazakhstan's
Gurmeet's feat was also the first time in 34 years that an Indian has won a gold in either in Asian championships or Asian Games in this event. Incidentally, it was the sixth attempt for the race walker at the  after winning a silver and two bronze medals in the last five attempts.
By winning the gold, the Uttarakhand lad has made a strong case for his selection to the Rio Olympics. So far, nine Indians have bettered the qualifying mark for the quadrennial event, out of whom only three will be selected to represent the country at the event.
In the women’s event, India’s Sapna, who has already qualified for Olympics, finished fourth with a time of 1:35:57. China’s Rui Liang won the gold with a timing of 1:28:43 while Japan’s Kumiko Okada (1:30:03) and South Korea’s Jeongeun Lee (1:33:53) took the silver and bronze respectively. Â
