Moscow World Athletics Championships-bound 20km Indian race walker K T Irfan rues the lack of international exposure as he prepares for the upcoming prestigious event where he hopes to better his personal best.
National record holder Irfan, who came up with a surprise 10th-place finish in the 2012 London Olympics, said he had competed in just three international events in the last two years.
"We don't take part in many international events. These prestigious events like Diamond League meetings don't have walk races as events. I have participated in just three top international events till now," Irfan told PTI in a telephonic interview.
Irfan took part in the IAAF World Race Walking Cup at Saransk, Russia in May last year where he qualified for the London Olympics. He clocked his personal best of one hour 20 minutes and 21 seconds in London Olympics and finished fifth in the IAAF 20km Race Walking Challenge at Taicang, China in March.
"Ideally, I would want to take part in more international events. My last international event was in March in IAAF 20km Race Walking Challenge in China. But it's Athletic Federation of India's call. We are OK with this," he said from Bangalore SAI Centre where he has been training.
In the August 10-18 World Championships, India will be represented by three athletes in the men's 20km Race Walk competition to be held on the second day of competitions on August 11 and all of them -- the other two being Gurmeet Singh and Chandan Singh -- have been training together for the past few months at the same centre.
The AFI had said that it considered Race Walk as an event in which India has a chance to win medals in future Olympics.
Irfan, who is being sponsored by Anglian Medal Hunt Company, does not want to make tall claims but says he would concentrate on bettering his personal best timing in Moscow.
