Tokyo Olympics: Sandeep Kumar finishes 23rd in men's 20km race walk event

Indian athlete Sandeep Kumar has finished 23rd in the men's 20km racewalking event at the Tokyo Olympics. While Italy's Massimo Stano won gold, Japan's Koki Ikeda and Toshikazu Yamanishi won silver and bronze medals respectively. Stano completed his 20km race in 1 hour 21 minutes and 5 seconds as he missed breaking the Olympic record by 3 minutes. Sandeep Kumar finished the race in 1:25:07 secs, four minutes more than what the Italian racewalker Stano took. 

The world number 42 ranked Sandeep Kumar's last best record in a 20km race walk was 1:23:157 secs, which he achieved in the 2020 World Race Walking Challenge. Meanwhile, world number 77 Rahul Rohilla and world number 78 KT Irfan, two other Indian athletes who were part of the race alongside Sandeep Kumar, finished 47th and 51st respectively. While Rahul completed his race in 1:32:06 secs, KT Irfan registered 1:34:41 on the clock.  

India at 2020 Tokyo Games 

Earlier today, the Indian men's hockey team scripted history as it won a bronze medal at the Olympics. India has won an Olympic medal after 41 long years as the last time it had stood on the podium was in the 1980 Moscow Games, where the Men in Blue had won a record eighth gold medal. With the bronze medal, India has now become the most successful hockey team in Olympic history, with 12 medals. 

On Wednesday, Lovlina Borgohain won a bronze medal for India after she went down fighting against Turkey's Busenaz Surmeneli in the semifinal of women's 69kg welterweight boxing event. Despite her loss, Lovlina became the only second Indian female boxer and third overall to win a medal at the Olympics after Vijender Singh (2008) and Mary Kom (2012). PV Sindhu and Mirabai Chanu have also won a medal each for India in badminton and weightlifting respectively. 

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