India’s Amit Khatri led the field in the final kilometer but was disqualified after receiving his fourth red card in the under-20 men’s 10km event at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships here on Friday.
Khatri was leading the field when he was disqualified, but would not have won the gold even if he crossed the finish line first as he was handed a 60-minute penalty after his third red card.
He certainly would have been in the top 10 if he had not received his fourth red card – which resulted in his disqualification.
The 18-year-old Khatri, who won a silver medal in the 10000m race walk event at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi six months ago, was 11th at the halfway mark, but has slowly pushed himself forward. Pack after the 9km mark.
At the start of the final kilometer in third place behind two Chinese walkers, Khatri picked up the pace and took the lead. However, he also took three red cards in addition to the one shown earlier, according to the Athletics Federation of India.
But in the end, Khatri was pulled into the penalty zone by the referee as the Indian threw a hand over his head in despair.
“This left him disappointed, disbelieving that he was close to winning his second medal on the world stage in six months, but was left with a disqualification,” the AFI said in a release.
“If he had only had three red cards in the race, Amit would have finished in the top 5 with a one-minute stop in the penalty zone.”
China’s Wang Hongren won the event in 44 minutes and six seconds, while Italy’s Diego Giampolo (44:14 sec) and another Chinese Zeng Yu (44:14 sec) won the silver and bronze medals respectively.
The final time was far below personal bests for a lot of athletes, but the conditions were tough and tested everyone.
A medal prospect, 18-year-old Khatri won silver in the 10000m race walk event at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi six months ago.
He had clocked a personal best of 40:28 seconds in Ranchi two years ago.
Earlier in the day, Reshma Patel finished 23rd in the 10km event in the women’s U-20 category in 53:10 seconds and did well to keep up with the leaders in the first 4km.
The judges’ two yellow paddles in the third kilometer didn’t slow him down, but the leaders pulled him away after receiving his first red card just before halfway.
The 17-year-old from Dehradun dropped more places before being given a one-minute stop in the penalty zone to draw her third red card at the ninth kilometer mark.
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