Gurmeet Singh has created history by becoming the first Indian athlete to clinch a gold medal in the Asian 20 km Race Walk Championships as he won the men’s event with his season’s best effort.

• The 30-year-old Gurmeet clocked 1 hour 20 minutes and 29 seconds.
• He beat Japan’s Isamu Fujisawa (1:20:49) in a close fight in the last 5 km. Kazakhstan’s Georgiy Sheiko won the bronze medal in 1:21:52.
• Gurmeet’s feat was the first time in 34 years that an Indian has won a gold in either an Asian Championships or Asian Games in this event.
• By winning the Asian title, Gurmeet has made a strong case for himself for selection in the Rio Olympic Games.
• Nine Indians have so far bettered the Games qualifying standard in men’s 20 km race walk and only three will make it to the final in Rio.
• Hakam Singh and Chand Ram won a gold each in 20 km road walk in 1978 and 1982 Asian Games respectively. Since then, no Indian has won a gold at the continental level in this event.
• In the women’s 20 km walk race event, National Games champion and Rio Games-bound Sapna finished fourth in a time of 1:35:57.