Sepoy ''Sepoy'' () is a term related to ''sipahi'', denoting professional Indian infantrymen, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire and the Maratha. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its Euro ...

Basanta Bahadur Rana (born 18 January 1984 in Chamkipur,

Nawalparasi District Nawalparasi District (, ), part of which belongs to Gandaki Province and part to Lumbini Province, was one of the 75 districts of Nepal before being divided into Parasi District and Nawalpur District in 2015. The district, with Parasi as i ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

) is an Indian athlete who competes in

racewalking Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

. He represented

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in the 50 km race walk event at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London. His personal best in this event before the Games was 4:02:13 and he bettered it by clocking a time of 3:56:48, a new national record.

2012 Summer Olympics

Basanta qualified for the Olympics at the

2012 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 2012 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held in Saransk, Russia, on 12–13 May 2012.Saransk Saransk (, ); ; is the capital city of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located in the Volga River, Volga drainage basin, basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about east of Moscow. Sar ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in May 2012, with a B qualifying standard. He was trained by the former national record holder Gurdev Singh. In the 1960 Olympics at Rome, Zora Singh was 8th clocking 4:37:44.6s. Basanta finished 36th in the event by setting a new national record of 3:56:48. By setting this record, Basanta broke the previous national record of 4:16:22 clocked by his mentor Gurdev Singh who had set it in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

in 2005.

Personal life

Basanta is from a hamlet, located 12 hours north of Kathmandu, Nepal. He joined the

Indian army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

in 2002 and is currently serving at the Gorkha Regiment. Basanta is supported by Anglian Medal Hunt Company.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rana, Basanta Bahadur 1984 births Living people Indian male race walkers Indian Army personnel Olympic athletes for India Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Asian Games World Athletics Championships athletes for India Naturalised citizens of India People from Nawalparasi District Nepalese emigrants to India Indian people of Nepalese descent Asian Games athletes for India