Asian Athletics Championships: Priyanka Goswami, Vikash Singh win silver and bronze medals

Priyanka Goswami. (File photo)

Priyanka Goswami and Vikash Singh won silver and bronze medals in the women’s and men’s 20km race walk events respectively on the final day of the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok on July 16.

National record holder Priyanka clocked 1 hour 34 minutes and 24 seconds to finish second in the women’s 20km race walk event behind Yang Liujing (1:32:37) of China.

Yukiko Umeno of Japan took the bronze with a time of 1:36:17. The 27-year-old Priyanka’s time, though, was well outside her personal best of 1:28:45, which she had clocked in 2021. Another Indian in the fray, Bhawna Jat finished fifth with a time of 1:38:26.

In the men’s 20km event, Vikash clocked 1:29:32 to take the bronze medal. Yutaro Murayama (1:24:40) of Japan won the gold, while Wang Kaihua (1:25:29) of China took the silver medal.

National record holder Akshdeep Singh did not finish the race as he was disqualified by the judges.

The 27-year-old Vikash has a personal as well as season’s best time of 1:20:05. It was his first international medal.

Both Priyanka, who had won a silver in 10,000m race walk in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and Vikash have already qualified for the World Championships (August 17-29) in Budapest, Hungary, and the 2024 Paris Olympics.