Manju, Baboo win 35km race walk mixed team bronze

HANGZHOU: Indian race walkers Manju Rani and Ram Baboo won the bronze medal in the inaugural 35km mixed team event at the Asian Games here on Wednesday.

Rani and Baboo -- both national record holders in women's and men's events -- clocked a combined time of 5 hours 51 minutes and 14 seconds to finish third behind China (5:16:41) and Japan (5:22:11).

In the 35km race walk mixed team event, the times (results) of the male and female athletes, who finished the race, are added in order to determine the medal winners.

This was the first time the 35km race walk mixed team event was held in the Asian Games. The event will also debut in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In India also, the event was introduced a couple of years ago.

The 24-year-old Baboo clocked 2:42:11 to finish fourth in the men's race while Rani also ended sixth with a time of 3:09:03.

Baboo had clocked the men's 35km race walk national record time of 2:29:56 in March. He also clinched a gold medal in the National Games last year and won national championships in February. He competed in the Budapest World Championships in August and finished 27th.

The 24-year-old Rani had clocked her national record time of 2:57:54 while winning the national race walk championships in February this year. She had also won gold in the National Inter-State Championships in June.