Kavita to spearhead Indian challenge
The Indian athletics season has witnessed a stuttering start after the highs of the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games last year.
Long-distance runners who impressed last season are yet to take a serious test this year but with big money up for grabs, they will be up and running on Sunday at the TCS World 10K.
Kavita Raut, silver medallist at the Asian Games, and Sudha Singh, the 3000M steeplechase gold medallist, will spearhead the Indian challenge in the women’s section while defending champion among Indians, Sunil Kumar, leads the fray among men.
Kavita, who joined the National camp only on Friday, said her preparations were yet to hit full swing. “I have been training back home in Nasik. I am not fully ready yet, but let’s see how it goes,” said Kavita, who looked back with delight at her last season’s performances.
“I didn’t think I could go below 32 minutes in 10,000M. But continuity in training really helped us. Our coach then (Nikolai Snesarev) told us to run for time and not to run for placings. That helped a lot,” said Kavita, who struck silver behind Preeja Sreedharan in a personal best of 31:51.44 in the 10000M before claiming the 5000M bronze in 15:16.54 at the Asian Games.
Winner among Indians in 2009, Kavita will face a challenge from defending champion Preethi L Rao. “It is a great opportunity to run in front of my home crowd,” said Bangalorean Preethi. “I have always enjoyed running here and also in Mumbai. Hopefully, I can do well.”
Rs 2 lakh is up for grabs for the Indian winners in each section. Even the tenth place fetches Rs 30,000 and the big prize fund has ensured that most of the leading Indian athletes will be lining up here.
Meanwhile, the organisers announced their partnership with Timex on Friday, with top athletes joining together to unveil the race clock at the Sree Kanteerava stadium. A one of a kind souvenir will be up for grabs for the first 1500 finishers of the ‘Open Run’ category of the event, with India fast bowler S Sreesanth unveiling the Nike Finisher Tee.
“This is a really nice event to be associated with and I have had a great time interacting with the World’s best athletes,” he said.
