| Honorific Prefix: | Subedar | ||||
| Basanta Bahadur Rana | |||||
| Nationality: | Indian | ||||
| Birth Date: | 18 January 1984 | ||||
| Birth Place: | Chamkipur, Nawalparasi, Nepal | ||||
| Country: | India | ||||
| Sport: | Track and field | ||||
| Event: | 50 km walk | ||||
| Club: | Services Sport Control Board, Delhi | ||||
| Pb: | 3:56:48 (London 2012) NR | ||||
| Module: |
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| Updated: | 11 August 2012 | ||||
Sepoy Basanta Bahadur Rana (born 18 January 1984 in Chamkipur, Nawalparasi District, Nepal[1]) is an Indian athlete who competes in racewalking.[2] He represented India in the 50 km race walk event at the 2012 Summer Olympics 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.
Basanta qualified for the Olympics at the 2012 IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Saransk, Russia 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 in 2005.[3]
Basanta is from a hamlet, located 12 hours north of Kathmandu, Nepal.[4] He joined the Indian army in 2002 and is currently serving at the Gorkha Regiment. Basanta is supported by Anglian Medal Hunt Company.[5]