Race walker Gurmeet qualifies for London Olympics

New Delhi: Gurmeet Singh on Sunday qualified for the 2012 London Olympics 20km race walking competition after finishing sixth in the 18th Dublin International Grand Prix in Ireland.

According to reports, Gurmeet clocked 1:22:07 to better the London Games qualifying `A` standard of 1:22:30 at the Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland. Gurmeet, who had bettered 20km race walking national record during the Indian Grand Prix series at Patiala last month with an effort of 1:20:35, also qualified for the World Championships to be held in Daegu, South Korea from August 27 to September 4. The Dublin International GP is a London Olympics and World Championships qualifying event as it is an IAAF Challenge Meet held under a European Athletics Permit. The qualifying standards of London Olympics and World Championships are the same. Another top Indian 20km race walker, Babubhai Panocha clocked his personal best of 1:23:02, which is better than the London Olympics and World Championships qualifying `B` standard of 1:24:00. Panocha`s earlier personal best was 1:23:06, which he achieved at 2009 Berlin World Championships.In the 50km race walking competition, Basant Bahadur Rana finished fourth in 4:10:19 which is outside London Olympics and World Championships qualifying `B` standard of 4:09:00. PTI