National record holder K T Irfan clocked an impressive timing to win a bronze in the 20km men’s event in the Asian Race Walk Championships here on Sunday. Irfan finished the race in 1 hour 20 minutes and 59 seconds, a tad slower than his national record timing of 1:20.21 which he set while finishing 10th in the 2012 London Olympics Korea’s Kim Hyun-Sub took the gold in 1:19:50 while Georgiy Sheiko of Kazakhstan bagged the silver in 1:20:47.
27-year-old Irfan had won the National Race Walking Championships here last month in 1:22:43.48 and has already qualified for the World Championships in London in August. In the women’s 20km event, India’s Priyanka failed to climb the podium as she finished fourth with a time of 1:37:42. China’s Wang Na comfortably won the gold medal with an effort of 1:30:51. Host country walker Kumiko Okada finished second in 1:33:31 while Yeongeun Jeon of Korea took the third place in 1:34:35.
