Race walker-turned-coach Basant Rana upbeat about the future of the sport in the country

After seeing two of his trainees finish one-two in the men’s 20km race walk in the Indian Open under-23 athletics meet at the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna, Olympian race walker-turned-coach Basant Bahadur Rana was delighted.

Even though his departmental side Services was not eligible to compete in the under-23 meet meant for the states, Rana made it a point to be at the venue and guide his trainees Sachin Bohra of Uttarakhand and K. Pilot Singh of Manipur to gold and silver respectively.

Rana is passionate about the trade he once plied and continues to contribute to it as a coach. He is delighted to note that since the 2012 London Olympics, where four Indian walkers (including him) competed after over a three-decade gap, the country has made good progress in walking.

“After 1980 (when Ranjit Singh competed in Moscow), we were the first batch (of race walkers to participate in the Olympics). Altogether 12 athletes from India took part in the London Olympics. Out of them, we were four walkers – three were in the 20km (Baljinder Singh, Gurmeet Singh and K.T. Irfan), I was the only one in the 50km,” said Rana.

Lot of excitement

“Since we were competing after that gap of 32 years, there was a lot of excitement. We showed that we could make a difference in walking. There was a positive impact. Since then, multiple walkers have been participating in every Olympics.

“In 2005, Belarusian coach Nikolai Snesarev came in. After him, other foreign coaches trained us. After that we not only qualified, but also we won medals in the Youth Olympics, Junior World Championships, World University Games, two bronze medals in the World Team Championships (in 2012 men’s 20km and in 2022 women’s 20km). We have medals in the Asian Games as well.

“After 2012, we have participated in every Olympics. In 2012, only men participated. From 2016, women also started participating. You can see in the last (Tokyo) Olympics, we had a girl (Priyanka Goswami) who came 17th. She did very well. She was a silver medallist in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2023 Asian championships.

“Worldwide people have come to know about the Indian race walkers. We won a medal (bronze, Harminder Singh) in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and there was a positive impact of that. His timing was also good – one hour, 23 minutes and 27 seconds. We took 10th place (Irfan) in the 2012 Olympics. Manish Singh was 13th in 2016. Now our national record is one hour, 19 minutes and 38 seconds (by Akshdeep Singh).

“At the Asian level, the competition is tough. World records are there from Asia. The Japanese and Chinese are really strong. They all dominate in the Olympics. We get tough competition, that’s why we are not able to earn gold in Asian Games these days. In 1982, we had our only gold by Chand Ram (20km walk) in Delhi. That was our first and last gold medal at the Asian Games.”

Even though two of the three Indian male walkers — Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh Bisht — finished 30th and 37th with times of 1:22:36 and 1:23:46 respectively and Akshdeep did not finish (DNF) in the Paris Olympics (apart from Priyanka’s 41st place with 1:39:55 in the women’s event and Priyanka and Suraj Panwar’s DNF in mixed relay), Rana thinks the Indians are not far off the world level.

“Anything can happen in this event. I will give you an example. The (men’s 20km) champion in the Paris Games was from Ecuador (Brian Pintado, 1:18:55). In March, there was a World Athletics event in Slovakia. There, our Ram Baboo got a bronze (1:20:00) and Pintado got a silver (1:19:44). Ram qualified for Paris (but could not participate in the Olympics as he was the fourth athlete from the country and only three could compete). Pintado was disqualified in the World Team championships in Antalya in April. But the Ecuadorian went to Paris and won a surprise gold. So, we just have to develop our endurance. Rest is technical.”

Rana explains why athletes get red cards and get disqualified in a technical event. “In walking, one foot should always be connected to the ground. When you touch the ground, your posture should be steady. There are two questions. One, whether there is loss of contact when you are in action. The other is the bend (of the legs). On a course, there are eight judges. In a loop, there are five-six judges on an indoor track. If you get three warnings, which mean three red cards, you will be disqualified. The main thing is technique. Until you cross the finish line, you have to keep the technique in mind.

“In the London Olympics, Erick Barrondo from Guatemala won a silver medal in 20 km but he was disqualified in 50km. Your technique becomes bad when you try to run fast in the 50km.”

Rana says improving a few minutes is not impossible in race walking. “Aarti, who got a bronze medal in the 10km walk in the World under-20 championships in Lima, Peru, improved from 47 minutes to 44:39. So if your fitness is at the top level, you can do it. It’s not a sprint, where microseconds matter.

“The current generation is positive. They just need good guidance. In the past, we used to participate and come back. But the mentality of the current generation has changed. They think they can win medals. There is a lot of support from the Athletics Federation of India, the Government and the corporate sector. A lot of things have improved.

More awareness

“There is awareness now. In our times, no one knew about walking. People used to see us and laugh because of our (peculiar) actions. Social media has spread, people are able to see us from their homes. We have improved our National record by five-six minutes. There are many events in which the national record is still very old.”

The Armyman thinks race walking gives a good opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. “Other than relay races, this is where most Indian athletes participate in the Olympics. This time, the ones who qualified directly were our walkers. They did not qualify through rankings.”

Rana says the best way to improve is to take part more in quality events. He thinks better training in the newly introduced mixed relay, which made its debut in the Olympics, would help the Indians.

“Suppose you have good capacity but your partner is not at that level, then you won’t be able to bond. You won’t get (the result) you want. We have to work on it. We could not finish (in the Olympics) because we did not have enough practice. We will work on it and make strategies for the Los Angeles Olympics.”

Rana is encouraged to see around 500 athletes, including juniors, pursuing race walking now as against a few in earlier days and prescribes good coaching and exposure for the young walkers to excel at the international level.