An unheralded Bhawana Jat qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the 20km race walk event after pulling off a shock win with a national record time at the National Championships here on Saturday. She thus became only the second Indian woman to qualify for Olympics in 20km race walk event after Khushbir Kaur competed in the 2016 Rio Games. She had, however, clocked 1:36:17s in 20,000m race walk event during the All India Inter-Railway Athletics Championships in August last year in Pune, which was competed on track. Bhawana, who currently trains on her own in Jaipur with her coach Gurmukh Sihag, has not taken part in any international event at the junior or senior level. Her coach Gurmukh said that Bhawana has given her dope sample, which means that her national record will be valid.

Source: The Telegraph February 15, 2020 21:33 UTC