
On Friday, Bhawna Jat and KT Irfan, two Tokyo-bound race walkers went through a fitness-cum-time trial conducted by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) at the SAI South Centre. Anju Bobby George, the senior vice-president was supervising the fitness test where the two athletes had to complete a 10km distance on the synthetic track against set targets.
Sources from TNN said Bhawna managed to finish within the allotted time range, but KT Irfan performed below-par. The TNN sources informed Times of India, “The two athletes were put through specific time trials. Bhawna completed the 10 km distance under 46 minutes plus while Irfan crossed by more than a minute. He completed the trial in just over 42 minutes which is doubtful over his selection.”
The AFI has also scheduled a trial for mong jumper M Sreeshankar on July 21. After that, they are expected to make their final decision on three athletes after another review meeting based on their performance in the trials.
In Friday’s trial, both the athletes react together to the starter’s gun. Along with Anju six other technical officials from the Karnataka Athletics Association led by secretary Rajavelu also monitored the trials. Saju Joseph, a high-performance director was also included by the SAI. Bhawna Jat passed the fitness test while on other hand KT Irfan failed to impress.
Tokyo Olympics is starting from July 23 to August 8 without any crowds due to COVID-19 fear.