Ram Baboo, Manju Rani triumph but fail to book tickets for Worlds

UP’s Ram Baboo who broke the men’s 35km national record in the National race walking championships in Ranchi on Wednesday. Photo: AFI
| Photo Credit: AFI

Punjab’s Manju Rani became the first woman to break the 3-hour barrier in the 35km while winning the gold at the National race walking championships in Ranchi on Wednesday. Photo: AFI
| Photo Credit:
AFI

Ram Baboo bettered his own 35km national record by nearly five minutes while winning the gold at the 10th National Race Walking Championships in Ranchi on Wednesday but it was not enough to qualify for this year’s World Championships in Budapest.

The 23-year-old from UP missed the qualification standard for Budapest by nearly two minutes.

Defending champion Juned Khan improved his personal best by four minutes to take the silver.

Meanwhile Punjab’s Manju Rani became the first Indian woman to go under three hours, clocking 2:57.54s for the 35km gold, but still was far away from the Worlds entry standard (2:51.30s).

Manju started doing the 35km only from September 2021 and Wednesday’s National gold was her first victory in five starts. With national record holder and defending champion Ramandeep Kaur trailing (she finished fifth in 3:20.25), the 23-year-old Manju walked with confidence and won comfortably.

“I have worked very hard for this and am happy that I could break the national record today,” said Manju. “I will train hard and improve gradually to win laurels for the country.”

Uttarakhand’s Payal, the National Games and National Open champion, took the silver.

The results:

Men’s 35km: 1. Ram Baboo (UP) 2:31.36s NR, OR 2:36.34, own, 2022); 2.. Juned Khand (Har) 2:36.04, 3. Chandan Singh (Utk) 2:36.55.

Women’s 35km: 1. Manju Rani (Pun) 2:57.54s NR, OR 3:00.04, Ramandeep Kaur, 2022); 2. Payal (Utk) 3:05.43, 3. Bandana Patel (UP) 3:11:35.