Race walker Suraj Panwar gears up for debut within debut at Olympics

Plucked out of his comfort zone and training without a partner for a mixed event in what is to be his debut Olympics race walker Suraj Panwar is gearing up for quite a rollercoaster ride in Paris this monthBut he is quite used to upheaval He was born into itThe 23yearold was an infant when his forest guard father Udai Singh Panwar was killed in the line of duty while trying to prevent illegal logging of trees He was raised singlehandedly by his mother Poonam who worked at the forest departments nursery in a village near Dehradun and supported his sporting ambitionsI have never competed in marathon race walk mixed relay in my career this is going to be my first time So I dont even have a target timing in my mind But its a matter of representing my country and I will give my 100 per cent Panwar told PTI in an interviewThe event was first introduced in a major championship at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya Turkiye in April It will make its Olympics debut in ParisPanwar who is a 20km race walker will pair with Priyanka Goswami in the new event which will cover the marathon distance of 42195km The first 12195km will be covered by the male race walker before his female teammate takes over for the next 10kmAfter that the male race walker will cover another 10km before his female counterpart takes over for the final 10km up to the finish line The combined time of the two athletes will be taken into consideration to decide the resultI will cover a little over 20km 22195km in total in two legs but the difference from 20km race is that I will do it with a break in between after completing 12195km he explainedAlso Read IOA releases list of 117 athletes 140 support staff for Olympics shotputter Abha Khatua missingThere will be change zones where the male and female race walkers will exchange wristbands similar to change of batons in relay racesBut interestingly Panwar is not practising with Priyanka who is currently training abroad She will reach Paris on July 28 or 29Panwar breached the Olympic qualifying standard of 12010 in 20km race walk event during the National Championships in Chandigarh in January by clocking 1 hour 19 minutes 44 seconds but World Athletics invalidated that result citing some technical issuesHe still made the grade through the world ranking quota in the 20km event But the Athletics Federation of India selected him for the marathon race walk mixed relay eventIt selection for Paris Olympics 2024 was a bit of a surprise I was very disappointed after the National Championships timing was cancelled I was thinking whether I will be picked for Paris Olympics 2024or not I was very anxious Panwar saidBut I continued my training thinking its alright if I dont go to Paris But the federation picked me after checking my overall results It is a dream come true to be an Olympian he addedPanwars stoic mother has been his inspiration growing up and she doesnt yet have a clear idea about his achievements He had won a silver in the Youth Olympics in 2018 competing in a pair of secondhand shoes gifted to him by Olympian Manish Singh RawatI am focussing on my training routine My mom told me to focus on my game and not on other things So I dont even talk to her too often on phone he saidWith agency inputs