South Africa training stint will be helpful in the race to Paris Olympics: Servin Sebastian

CHENNAI: While seven Indian race walkers have breached the Paris Olympics qualification mark in the 20km event, only three athletes can make the final cut for the quadrennial extravaganza. One among them is Tamil Nadu's Servin Sebastian, who finished third (1:20.03 minutes) and eclipsed the qualification mark at the South Asian & Indian Race Walking Championships in Chandigarh in January.

In the race to make it to Paris 2024, Servin, mentored by Olympian Ganapathi Krishnan, is now focussing on the all-important World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya, later this month. As part of their preparation Servin and other Indian racewalkers trained at the high-performance centre in South Africa for over a month.

“This was the first time I went abroad for training. The training was good and after a month there, I feel that I can better the timing and push myself to perform better. Earlier, I used to train alone and there was no one to compete but in the Indian camp, everyone is pretty much at the same level. This helped me in my progress. Foreign coach Tatiana Sibileva has guided me in the foreign training stint,” Servin told TOI.

The final three-member squad will be selected in June, before when the racewalkers will take part in three tournaments. “Next up we have three competitions lined up – the World Championships, the athletics meet in Europe (to be confirmed) and the Inter-state meet in India. The performances in the three tournaments will be considered and the final three racewalkers shall be selected for Paris,” Servin added.

Servin, who is currently part of the Indian camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru, is looking to improve his timing in future meets. “I aim to get close to the 1 hour and 19-minute mark but getting there is pretty tough. It ultimately depends on the race day and several other factors. We need to have a good bunch and should look to avoid making fouls. The first hour of the race is important and if that goes well, then the last few minutes can be turned in our favour.”

Camaraderie in the camp

Servin said the players in the camp share a good bond and are helpful. “All of us are friendly. In training, if anyone is feeling down, we make sure to motivate them. We always look to help each other regardless of the competition amongst us.”


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