Chandigarh, Feb 21(.) Seasoned international Ram Baboo of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab’s Manju Rani clinched gold medals in the men’s and women’s categories respectively at the 42km full marathon race walk at the 13th Indian Open Race Walk Competition held at Sukhna Lake here on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Ram Baboo clocked 3:09:17.00 to top the podium in the gruelling full marathon walk, an event introduced this season by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Competing in his first race of the 2026 season, he edged past the more fancied Sandeep Kumar of Haryana in a closely fought contest. Olympian and Commonwealth Games medallist Sandeep settled for silver after finishing in 3:11:18.00.
Ram Baboo expressed satisfaction at beginning his season on a strong note, saying he felt both mentally and physically prepared heading into the competition. “Preparation was good and I’m happy with my performance,” he said.
Looking ahead, his focus is firmly set on securing a podium finish at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan later this year. “In my next race I will try to improve my performance,” Ram Baboo added.
In the women’s 42km event, Manju produced a commanding display to finish ahead of a competitive field that included seasoned race walker and Olympian Priyanka Goswami of Uttar Pradesh.
Manju stayed among the leading trio, alongside Priyanka, until the 32km mark before making her decisive move. Gradually increasing her pace, she pulled clear in the closing stages to seal victory, while Priyanka claimed silver.
“There was no one to challenge me otherwise I could have improved my time,” Manju said after the race. Manju clocked 3:33:24.00, nearly four minutes faster than Priyanka’s 3:37:25.00.
Like Ram Baboo, Manju has set her sights on the Asian Games in September. “Asian Games is the main target this year,” she said, underlining her ambitions for the season.
Both Manju and Ram Baboo had earlier combined to win bronze in the 35km mixed race walk team event at the 2022 Asian Games in China.
In other events, Army’s promising race walker Nitin Gupta, representing Uttar Pradesh, clinched gold in the men’s 10km race walk with a time of 41:44.00. Reshma Patel, also from Uttar Pradesh, won the women’s 10km race walk, finishing in 46:19.00.
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