Sandeep smashes own national record in 50km race walk

Sandeep Kumar of Haryana smashed his own national record en route to winning the gold medal in the gruelling men's 50km event of the National Race Walking Championships here on Saturday. Sandeep clocked three hours 55 minutes and 59.05 seconds in a brilliant performance to win the race and qualify for the London World Championships in August.

The earlier national record which stood in his name was 3:56:22 which he clocked in the IAAF World Race Walking Cup at Taicang, China in May 2014.

Services athletes Jitender Singh (4:02:11.58) and Chandan Singh (4:04:18.41) won the silver and bronze respectively in the energy-sapping race. Both Jitender and Chandan also booked their berths for the August 4-13 World Championships. "I'm very happy to have won the race by smashing my own national record and to have qualified for World Championships in London.

It gives me confidence that I can keep on improving and better my timing in future also," Sandeep said. "I will prepare for World Championships in London and I hope to do well there. My target is to win a medal in the Commonwealth and Asian Games next year and then to do even better in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," said the 30-year-old army man.