Indian Athletics – News – Asian 20km Race Walking championships – Gurmeet finished third in Asian Race Walking championships/ By Ram. Murali Krishnan /

Nomi City, Japan – 10 March 2013 – India's national champion Gurmeet Singh (27) finished third in the Asian 20km Race Walking championships which held under inclement weather in Japan's Nomi City this morning. The performances of athletes had been heavily affected by rain and cold (5 deg) weather.

Gurmeet, who was a silver medalist here last year, struggled to maintain his pace and finished the distance in 1:21:38, just 10 secs behind China's Li Tianlei (1:21:28). Yusuke Suzuki of Japan won the men's race in 1:18:34.  This is the fourth fastest time, second fastest outside India, by Gurmeet.

The host nation's Kumi Otoshi took the women's crown in 1:33:49. Thi Thanh Phuc Nguyen of Vietnam and Korean Yeon Geun Jeon obtained the two other spots on podium with timings of 1:35:26 and 1:35:49 respectively. Indian walker Khushbir Kaur finished fourth in 1:37:32.

In the open category races held along with the above championships, Indians Chandan Singh (1:23:36), Baljinder Singh (1:24:30), Surinder Singh (1:25:30) and Babubhai Panucha (1:26:59) finished 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.

Former national record-holder Deepmala Devi completed the open category for women in 1:44:26.

/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /