Max Bupa National Open Racewalking Championship 2017

Jitender Singh & Chandan Singh join the winner Sandeep Kumar on the podium in 2nd and 3rd position respectively.

Sandeep Kumar has finished the race in 1st position!  There is no sign of the 2nd and 3rd place finishers yet.

There has been another reshuffle. Jitender Singh is now ahead of Chandan Singh in 2nd place.

With 3 km to go, Sandeep Kumar has raced into the lead.  Close behind are Chandan Singh and Maniram Patel.

And the timings are in! Priyanka has certainly bettered her personal best, walking in 1st with a time of 1:37:58:32.  Shanti Kumar finished 2nd with 1:38:38:70 and Rani Yadav 3rd, with 1:38:51:30.  There 3 were a full 9 minutes ahead of 4th position, Ravina, with 1:47:16.88.

This is the 20 year old's first senior podium finish and victory at the senior national level!

No surprises there, as the leaders Priyanka, Shanti Kumar and Rani Yadav finished strongly for their podium finish.  Timings to follow.

Priyanka will aim to improve on her personal best of 1:40:04, set at Roma in May, 2016.

Sombya has dropped into 4th position, as it stands.

After 17 laps, Priyanka, Shanti Kumar & Rani Yadav are in the lead.

Irfan and Devender continue their dominance in India in the 20 km edition of the race. Irfan set the national record with 1:20:21  at the London Olympics and Devender was again just a fraction of a second behind at Nomi, Japan, in 2016.

In the men's 50 km walk, after 28 laps, Chandan Singh, Sandeep Kumar and Surinder Singh from Punjab are in the lead.  Maniram Singh has dropped out of the top 3, as it stands.

Meanwhile, in the women's 20 km walk, Priyanka, Sowmya and Shanti Kumar are in the lead

Devender, who finished 2nd, finished just 0.11 seconds behind Irfan!  Miniscule.

Irfan finished with a time of 1:22:43:49, 2 seconds off his London Olympics timing of 1:20:21.

In a spectacular finish, Irfan KT, Devender Singh and Ganapathi (from Tamil Nadu) finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 20 km walk.  Gurmeet Singh, who was poised to finish strongly, was disqualified by the judges for infringement.

Meanwhile, in the women's event, Priyanka, Sowmya, Shanti Kumar and Karamjit Kaur are bringing up the lead.

The men's 20 km Walk has come to an end.  The podium results will be announced soon.  ;

Maniram Patel  has been overtaken by Sandeep Kumar and has dropped to 3rd, as it stands.  Chandan Singh is still in the lead in the race.

As it stands, Devender and Gurmeet will qualify for the Asian Race Walking Championships.

With 3 km to go, it's Devender Singh and Gurmeet Singh who are in the lead.  Irfan KT has dropped to 3rd position.

Karamjit Kaur, Rani Yadav and Priyanka, from Railways, Railways and ONGC respecitvely, have the early lead in the race.

The women's 20 km walk has kicked off.  

Irfan had the honour of finishing 10th at his first international event - the 2012 London Olympics.

Devender Singh and KT Irfan are walking away with it in the 20 km event.

At the end of the first lap, Chandan Singh and Maniram Patel are still in the lead in the 50 km walk.

Chandan also represented India at Rio.  If he wins this, he will represent India at the Asian Race Walking Championship to be held later this year in Japan.

Chandan Singh was the runner-up at the Open Race Walking Championship held at Jaipur in 2016.  Can he go one step further this year?

No change in position yet; Chandan Singh and Devender Singh lead in the 50 km and 20 km walks respectively.

We are awaiting the start of the 20 km walk for women.  Khushbir Kaur, who won the Silver at the Asian Games in 2014 in the 20 km event, is expected to give a strong showing.

Devender Singh, from Services, and Irfan KT, representing Kerala, have the early lead in the 20 km walk.

A quirky rule in Race Walking: If an athlete's foot loses contact with the ground at any time, judges can hand out a red card.  3 red cards result in the athlete's disqualification from the event.

Chandan Singh and Maniram patel are still in the lead in the race.  Also, 2 red cards have been handed out in quick succession in the race for infringements.

The 2nd event of the day, the Men's 20 km walk has now kicked off.  

Chandan Singh and Maniram Patel, representing Uttarakhand and Railways, have walked themselves into an early lead in the 20 km event.  

All eyes will be on Manish Rawat, the race walker from Uttarakhand, as he takes to the track in the Men's 20 km walk.  He finished 13th in the event in the Rio Olympics, ahead of much higher ranked opponents.

This year is the 4th edition of the National Race Walking Championship.  The sponsors, Max Bupa, one of the best health insurance companies in India, will offer Rs.4,00,000 as prize money for the 3 events - Men's 50 km walk, Men's 20 km walk and Women's 20 km walk.

The Men's 50 km walk has now kicked off

Good morning everyone!  Welcome to Sportscafe's live coverage of the National Racewalk Championship, live from New Delhi.