Muscat, March 4 (Agency) The Indian women’s 20km walk team, comprising Ravina, Bhawna Jat and Munita Prajapati, on Friday scripted history by winning a bronze — the first medal in the 61-year history of the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships– here on Friday evening. Ravina produced the best finish by an Indian in the women’s 20km event with the 14th place in 1:40:22. The experienced Bhawna was 21st with a time of 1:43:08 and 20-year-old Munita Prajapati finished 26th in 1:45:03. Earlier in the day, India’s top U20 men’s race walker Amit Khatri disqualified with four red cards in men’s 10km race.
Lying third behind two Chinese walkers at the start of the final kilometer, the 18-year-old stepped up the pace and shot into the lead. However, he also picked up three red cards in addition to the one shown to him earlier. Amit was so close to winning a second medal on the world stage in six months but was left with a disqualification. He had won a silver in U20 World Athletics championships last year in August. Moreover, Reshma Patel finished 23rd in the U20 women’s 10km event in 53 minutes 10 seconds after doing well to stay with the leaders over the first 4km.