Walker Irfan, two other sportsmen join OGQ list

Walker K T Irfan, who surprised everyone with his creditable 10th place finish at the London Games in the 20km walk race, is a new addition to the list of talented sportspersons supported by the Olympic Gold Quest.

The 22-year-old Kerala-based athlete, who sold off a piece of his ancestral property to meet expenses during his five-month training for the London Games, clocked an impressive 1 hour, 20 minutes and 21 seconds -- the new national mark -- in the Olympics.

Along with Irfan, OGQ -- founded by sports legends Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi -- has also decided to support two other youngsters -- pistol shooter Amanpreet Singh and javelin thrower Rajesh Bind.

Jalandhar-born Amanpreet, who took up shooting at the age of 13, is the current national champion in 10m Air Pistol and also one of India's top shooters in the 50m Free Pistol event.

UP-born Bind is a promising 18-year-old javelin thrower who trains at the Army Sports Institute in Pune and is the current junior national record holder with an impressive throw of 80.14m and is only the third Indian and the first junior in the country to cross the 80m mark.

OGQ CEO Viren Rasquinha said that the trio will be provided all the support and motivation by his organisation.

OGQ, a not-for-profit sports NGO, supports training and preparation of 42 sports persons across 5 individual Olympic sports -- badminton, boxing, shooting, archery and athletics.