Uttarakhand is the new force reckon with in race walking

By Navneet Singh New Delhi, Feb 8 : Uttrakhand athletes have stamped their authority in endurance events of 36th National Junior Athletics Championships in Guwahati by winning as many as five medals in the race walking events so far.
After a dominant performance on Sunday, when the 2018 Youth Olympics silver medallist Suraj Panwar won gold in under-20 category and his teammate Reshma Patel claimed under-18 girls’ title hands down, Uttarakhand athletes continued their brilliant run by claiming three more medals on Monday. Aditya Negi won bronze in under-18 category, and Himanshu Kumar and Babendra Singh Negi won silver and bronze in the under-16 boys’ category to continue a glorious run.
This medal tally could go up on Tuesday, when the girls’ under-16 race walking events takes place.
This performance by Uttarakhand athletes wasn’t unexpected. Going by the results of the previous editions of the national meet, held in Guntur, athletes from Uttarakhand won seven medals in three age-categories, indicating huge depth in the field. The state team had won several medals at the 2018-19 edition of the National School Games, held in Sangrur, Punjab, highlighting the surge in the discipline.
“Almost all the athletes who we had fielded in the race walking events in Guntur in 2019 had medals around their neck. There were one or two who missed the podium finish but lost bronze medals by narrow margins,” Uttarakhand athletics team coach Anoop Bisht, who is overseeing training of half a dozen race walkers, including Panwar and Reshma, told IANS.
What’s the reason for Uttrakhand to throw up a supplyline of quality race walkers, displacing Haryana and Punjab, the two dominant states in the recent events?