New Delhi: A buoyant Indian race walk team, comprising of seven men and one woman athlete will leave here today to participate in the Asian 20km Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan, on March 20.

Race walk in India has taken a big stride since 2012 London Olympics when KT Irfan finished 10th in the men’s 20km race walk. For the 2016 Olympics, nine Indian race walkers have booked their berths so far, which is a milestone for Indian athletics. Recently, seven Indian race walkers qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games on a single day at the National Open Race Walk Championships held in Jaipur on February 27-28.

The eight Indian race walkers travelling for the Asian Championships have already bettered the Olympics qualification mark and they are now primarily aiming to clock their personal best and further improve their ranking for the final selection of the Indian Team for the World Championships in May and the Olympics in August.

On eve of their departure, head coach for race walk, Alexander said the performance in the Asian Championships and the World Championships will be crucial for selection of the Indian race walkers for Rio. “Some of the race walkers in the team, Gurmeet Singh, Sandeep Kumar and Manish Rawat made the Olympics grade a year back. For Nomi, the walkers will be aiming to clock their personal bests and we also hope to win more medals than last time.”

Asian Games Silver Medalist Khushbir Kaur pulled out this time due to an injury and is currently undergoing a recovery programme. Alexander and R Gandhi are the coaches accompanying the Indian team.

Indian Race Walk Team for Asian 20km Race Walk Championships:

Sandeep Kumar, Gurmeet Singh, Manish Rawat, K.T. Irfan, Ganapathy, Devender Singh, Neeraj Rathi; and Sapana.