Harpal Singh Bedi/ New Delhi
Indian elite athletes on Saturday promised a much better showing in the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday.
Defending champion and course record holder Nitender Singh Rawat and Asian Marathon Champion and country’s only Gold Label athlete T Gopi are ready to go head to head in what is going to be mouth-watering showdown.
The two ran a thrilling race at the 2018 Tata Mumbai Marathon where Gopi pipped Rawat only in the last 200 metres to win the title.
Despite competing in a half marathon after three years, Gopi is very optimistic of taking the top spot on the podium. “I have worked hard for last three months, and if the weather is good on race day, I can break the course record,”i.
Rawat on the other hand was more calculated in his approach to the race and promised to give his best. “I haven’t run in a competition since February so I will have to wait for Sunday to see how well I am prepared,” .
After Mumbai Marathon, the two met again in February at the Delhi Marathon, Gopi went on to win that race too with Rawat.in second place showing how he has moved from strength to strength since his Asian Marathon Championship win.
“I have learnt a lot since my 2017 Asian Championships and the process is still on. I am working hard and this is my first competition of the season so it will help me improve my fitness and times for the competitions ahead,” said Gopi.
Avinash Sable, who stood third in 2017 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, will also add further teeth to the competition. In the recently concluded Open National Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, Sable clinched the gold in Steeplechase 3000m erasing the 37-year-old national record in the process.
Sanjeevani Jadhav and Monica Athare will lead the Indian Elite Women’s category. Jadhav, who won a bronze at the Asian Cross Country Championships in China. also bagged TCS World 10K title at Bengaluru .
Athare on the other hand clinched the New Delhi Marathon 2018 and also was the winner in Indian Elite Women’s category of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in 2016.
Three-time Olympic champion Ethiopia Tirunesh Dibaba who ran the outstanding time of 2:18:55 at the Berlin Marathon just over a month ago believes she has recovered quickly despite the short amount of time between the two races.
” I’ve come to Delhi with the first target of winning, I’m not thinking about times too much,” added Dibaba, professing herself somewhat uninterested in the ADHM course record of 66:54 which has belonged to Kenya’s Mary Keitany since 2009.
On the current half marathon world record holder Jepkosgei is clearly looking to run quickly in Delhi and hoping that her speed will take her to victory.
“I’m very happy to be here – it’s a privilege to meet Indian people – and I’m looking to run a fast time although improving on my world record (of 64:51 set in October 2017) Of course, it all depends on the weather and climate,” added the diminutive Kenyan,
(HSB )