Nairobi, (IANS)| Indian race walker Amit Khatri on Saturday won a silver medal in the men’s 10,000m race walk event at the World Athletics Under20 Championships at the Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi. Khatri won the silver medal with a timing of 42:17.94 minutes. He was leading the event before being overtaken by Kenya’s Heristone Vanyoni in the final two laps.
Eventually, Vanyoni won the gold medal with a time of 42:10.84 minutes. Spain’s Paul McGrath won the bronze medal with a timing of 42:31.11 minutes. The Athletics Federation quoted Amit as saying, “Since it is a high altitude place, it was a problem for me to breathe. This was my first international competition and won a silver medal for India. I am happy with Rajat, at least I can meet India’s expectations. This is India’s second medal in the current competition. Earlier on Wednesday, the Indian quartet of Bharat Sridhar, Priya H Mohan, Sumi and Kapil won the bronze medal in the 4x400m mixed relay final with a season-best 3:20.60 minutes.
In January this year, Khatri set a new national record by winning the men’s 10000m race walk title at the Junior Federation Cup in Bhopal. The young walker from Rohtak, Haryana completed the race in 40 minutes 40.97 seconds. During this, Khatri improved on Akshdeep Singh’s current national record of 40:37.78 minutes and reached the finish line almost half a minute ahead of the state’s record of Paramdeep Mor.