Why Priyanka Goswami Was Disqualified at Asian Games 2026

Priyanka Goswami was disqualified just 7km into the women’s 42.195km marathon race walk at the 2026 Asian Games after receiving four red cards under Rule TR54.7.5, ending one of India’s medal hopes early in the event.

India had entered the women’s marathon race walk hoping to add two more medals to its tally. Instead, Goswami’s race was stopped in the early stages after judges recorded four technical violations. The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist received two red cards for loss of contact and two for knee flexion.

The decision matters because race walking is governed by specific technique rules throughout the full distance. A competitor can be penalised not simply for pace or position, but for infringements identified by judges during the race. In Goswami’s case, the fourth red card brought an automatic disqualification.

How the race walk disqualification happened

Race walking requires athletes to follow strict technical standards from start to finish. The two central violations are loss of contact and bent knee. Loss of contact occurs when an athlete does not maintain visible contact with the ground. A bent-knee violation is recorded when the advancing leg is not kept straight from the moment it first touches the ground until it reaches the upright position.

Judges can issue red cards when they observe either infringement. In events using a penalty zone, three red cards from different judges send an athlete to that zone to serve a time penalty. That process, however, does not protect a competitor from a later disqualification.

Under Rule TR54.7.5, an athlete who receives a fourth red card from a different judge at any point in the race is disqualified. Goswami reached that threshold during the opening 7km of the 42.195km contest. Her two loss-of-contact cards indicated that judges found she was not maintaining visible ground contact, while the two knee-flexion cards indicated that her advancing leg was not being kept straight as required.

The fourth card ended her race immediately under the rule. For India, it removed one of the athletes expected to challenge in the women’s marathon race walk and left the country’s prospects in the event resting on Manju Rani.

Manju Rani finishes sixth for India

Rani entered the competition with a notable race-walking record. In February 2026, she set the inaugural national record in the women’s 42.195km marathon race walk at the Indian Open Race Walking Competition in Chandigarh, clocking 3:33:24.

At the Asian Games, though, Rani was unable to turn that record into a medal challenge. She finished sixth, last among the finishers, with a time of 3:40:17. Her performance was nearly 18 minutes behind the gold-medal time.

Goswami’s early exit and Rani’s sixth-place finish meant India did not secure the hoped-for medal return from the women’s marathon race walk. The key moment in the event for Goswami came long before the finish: the accumulation of four red cards, including the decisive fourth notice under Rule TR54.7.5, brought her Asian Games race to a close after only 7km.