World University Games: Indian women’s 20 km race walk team gets bronze, medal tally up to 26

India's women's 20 km race walk team of Olympian Priyanka Goswami, Mansi Negi, Nikita Lamba and Pooja Kumawat, secured a bronze medal

Chengdu: India’s women’s 20 km race walk team of Olympian Priyanka Goswami, Mansi Negi, Nikita Lamba and Pooja Kumawat, secured a bronze medal at the ongoing FISU World University Games at Chengdu, China on Saturday.

As per the Oympics.com, none of these four athletes could, however, secure podium finishes in women’s individual 20 km race walk event.

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Priyanka Goswami, who has a silver medal in the 10,000m walk at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Athletics Championships, finished seventh, the best among all Indians at the event, clocking timings of 1:40:39 – a good 12 seconds short of her national record of 1:28:45, achieved in 2021.

Pooja Kumawat (1:45:30), Mansi Negi (1:46:04) and Nikita Lamba (1:50:11) earned finishes at 15th, 16th and 21st spots respectively.

However, the quartet’s combined best timings of 5:12:13 (best three timings) placed them behind China (4:52:02) and Slovakia (5:05:36) in the team competition, which only featured three teams. India ended up with a bronze medal.

In the individual men’s 20km race walk, India’s Sahil clocked timings of 1:33:53 to earn an 18th-place finish while compatriot Neeraj Kumar Chaurasiya finished at number 20 with 1:35:40. Hardeep, meanwhile, was disqualified.
The disqualification meant India could not rank in the team event.

In the women’s triple jump discipline, India’s Poorva Sawanth finished at the last, in an event featuring a 12-woman field with the best effort of 12.80m.

The women’s race walk bronze was India’s only medal for the day.

Indian medals tally at the FISU World University Games has increased to a total of 26 medals, consisting of 10 gold, five silver and 11 bronze. As many as 14 medals – eight gold, four silver and two bronze – were secured by India’s shooting contingent.

Around 230 Indian athletes are competing at the multi-sport meet, which will conclude on August 8.