Asian athletics: Gulveer wins gold, race walker Servin takes bronze

There were a couple of meets left before Paris but Servin could not repeat his performance. A crestfallen Servin decided to take a break from race walking and not compete this season. It was then that Army coach Basanta Bahadur Rana stepped in and motivated him to look ahead and get over the setback.

The Tamil Nadu race walker has not only started afresh but is performing with renewed vigour. On Tuesday, Servin took bronze at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea – his first big international medal – with a personal best timing of 1:21:14. Paris Olympian and Asian Games silver medallist Wang Zhaozhao of China (1:20:37) won gold, seeing off a tough fight from Japan’s Kento Yoshikawa (1:20:46). The second Indian, Amit, came fifth (1:22:14.30).

“I have worked hard this season to win an international medal. Though the disappointment of not going to Olympics still lingers, with encouragement from my coach I was able to look at the bigger goal,” Servin told HT.