Indian race walkers Khushbir Kaur and Manish Singh finished creditable fourth and sixth respectively in the 20km race where the Commonwealth Games record was shattered by Australian Dane Bird-Smith in the men’s race here today.

Khushbir managed a timing of 1:39:21sec, which was 6:31sec behind gold-winner Jemima Montag. Manish, whose work profile includes being a farm labourer, a waiter and tourist guide among others, clocked 1:22:22sec to sign off sixth in his debut appearance at the Commonwealth Games.

The 26-year-old Indian, who managed a 13th place finish at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was cautioned with a yellow card during the race for breaching the international rules on “improper conduct” but the exact violation was not clear. The Indian had left the line-up when the call-up was taking place. “It was due to the breach of some rule in walking, nothing major,” India’s deputy athletics coach Radhkrishnan Nair said.

The gold was claimed by Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Bird-Smith, who broke the Games record. Bird-Smith clocked 1:19:34sec, beating the record of 1:22:18sec set by compatriot Jarrad Tallent in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

India’s national record holder K T Irfan finished 13th in the event with a timing of 1:27:34sec, while in the women’s race Soumya Baby was disqualified at the 6km mark for three successive loss of contact violations.

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