Chandigarh, Apr 19 (PTI) In an embarrassing organisational ‘goof up’ , the participants at the women’s 35km race walk crossed the finish line without completing the full course while national record holder Ram Baboo clinched the men’s 35km gold during the Indian Open Race Walking Competition here on Saturday.

The result of the women’s competition was held up for hours after the conclusion of the event with the organisers claiming that it was due to technical reasons.

Later, when the result sheet was issued, it came to light that timings of the participants were recorded for 34km and not 35km. There was no official explanation available.

“There could be misunderstanding or lack of coordination among officials while counting the laps completed by the participants but I am not sure what exactly happened,” said an official present at the event.

The ‘goof up’ would rob the race walkers of world ranking points as they did not complete the full course.

Payal representing Railways emerged on top with a time 2:51:48.76 while Manju Rani and Ramandeep Kaur — both from Punjab — completed 34km in 2:55:34.19 and 2:57:03.94 respectively.

It is the second time that glitches have marred a race walk event here. In 2024, during the National Open Race Walking Championship, “faulty readings” had led to the revision of timings of participants by World Athletics.

Later, the world body altogether invalidated all the results of the 20km race walk event.

Babbo wins men’s event ================ Baboo, who had won 35km race walk mixed team bronze medal at the 2023 Asian Games along with Manju Rani, clocked 2 hours 32 minutes and 53.50 seconds to win the race, well below his NR of 2:29.56.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s international race walker Servin Sebastian stamped his authority in the men’s 20km event, taking the gold with a time of 1:21:46.47 to better the next month’s Asian Athletics Championship qualification criteria of 1:24:50 set by the AFI.

“My main goal this season is to stay healthy and injury free,” the Tamil Nadu race walker said.

Sebastian had also won 20km gold at the Uttarakhand National Games in February.

“My next target is to qualify for the World Athletics Championships.” The World Championships automatic qualification time in men’s 20km is 1:19:20. It’s 1:29:00 in the women’s 20km race walk.

Amit, representing Indian Army, finished second with a time of 1:21:51.46. Amit’s team-mate Amanjot Singh crossed the line in 1:22:12.72 to finish third.

Amit and Singh also dipped below the Asian qualification time.

Paris Olympian Paramjeet Singh Bisht finished fourth with a time of 1:23:10.45. National record holder Akshdeep Singh, who was considered favourite to win gold, finished fifth with a time of 1:23:49.18.

The women’s 20km race walk gold went to Ravina of Haryana. She clocked 1:35:58.80. The AFI’s Asian Championships qualification time in the women’s 20km race walk is 1:32:00.

Commonwealth Games medallist and national record holder Priyanka Goswami didn’t finish the race. PTI PDS AT PDS AT AT