Indian race walkers Manju Rani and Ram Baboo won the bronze medal in the inaugural 35km mixed team event at the Asian Games on Wednesday.
Rani and Baboo -- both national record holders in women's and men's events -- clocked a combined time of 5 hours 51 minutes and 14 seconds to finish third behind China (5:16:41) and Japan (5:22:11).
In the 35km race walk mixed team event, the times (results) of the male and female athletes, who finished the race, are added in order to determine the medal winners. (Asian Games 2023 Medal Tally | Asian Games 2023 Full Schedule) This was the first time the 35km race walk mixed team event was held in the Asian Games.
The event will also debut in the 2024 Paris Olympics. In India also, the event was introduced a couple of years ago. The 24-year-old Baboo clocked 2:42:11 to finish fourth in the men's race while Rani also ended sixth with a time of 3:09:03.