The men’s 20km race walk final will be a star-studded affair with some of the biggest names taking part in the event scheduled for Thursday at the Sapporo Odori Park.
The men’s 20km race walk, with 57 participants, will be of keen interest to the Indian audience as it will feature three Indian walkers including KT Irfan, Sandeep Kumar, and Rahul Rohilla.
Irfan, competing in his second Olympics at Tokyo, had finished 10th in London 2012 with a time of 1.20.21.
Meanwhile, Sandeep Kumar, who finished 35th in 50km race walk in 2016 Rio, will be making his Olympics debut in the 20km race walk.
Sandeep, ranked 42nd, is the highest among the Indian walkers. KT Irfan and Rahul are world No. 77 and 78, respectively.
Local favorites world No. 1 Toshikazu Yamanishi and world No. 8 Ikeda Koki will be the top contenders for the title. Toshikazu, aged 25, is the 2019 world champion and 2018 Asian Games silver medallist.
The race also includes some top-rank walkers like Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom, Spain’s Diego Garcia and Alvaro Martin, and China’s Kaihua Wang.
China’s Chen Ding holds the Olympic record in race walking with a time of 1:18:46 set during London 2012 while the world record stands at 1:16:36 in the name of Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki set in 2015.
The Tokyo Olympics men’s 20km race walk final will take place on Thursday, August 5 at 1:00 PM India Standard Time (IST).
Where to watch the Tokyo Olympics men’s 20km race walk final live in India?
Tokyo Olympics men’s 20km race walk final will be telecast live on the Sony TEN 2, Sony TEN 2 HD, Sony SIX and Sony SIX HD TV channels in India. Sony TEN 3, Sony TEN 3 HD, Sony TEN 4 and Sony TEN 4 HD will broadcast Tokyo 2020 in regional languages.
Live streaming of the Tokyo Olympics athletics will be available on Sony Liv.
Live broadcast subject to Sony Sports Network.
Featured photo : Athletics Federation of India
