Also makes Worlds grade along with Devinder and Ganapathi Krishnan
National record holder K.T. Irfan on Sunday became the first Indian to qualify for next year’s Tokyo Olympics athletics.
He finished fourth in the 20km event of the Asian race walking championships in Nomi, Japan. The 29-year-old clocked 1 hour 20 minutes and 57 seconds to better the qualification standard of 1:21m.
The qualification period for race walk events and marathon began on January 1 this year and will run till May 31, 2020. The Olympics qualification period for all other athletics events will start on May 1 and run till June 29, 2020.
No other Indian from athletics has so far qualified for Tokyo.
Irfan also qualified for this year’s World Championships (September 27-October 6) in Doha, Qatar as he bettered the qualifying mark of 1:22:30.
Two other Indians, Devinder Singh and Ganapathi Krishnan also qualified for the World Championships as they clocked 1:21:22 and 1:22:12s.
In the women’s event, Soumya Baby finished fourth in 1:36:08s, outside the Olympics standard.
Source: THE HINDU-18th March,2019
