JOIN USMarathoner Ram Singh Yadav went through his fitness trial in fine fashion on Saturday in Coimbatore, as directed by the Athletics Federation of India.
Yadav, among the 14 Indian athletes who have qualified for the Olympics, was among the three athletes on whose fitness queries were raised during the AFI selection committee meeting earlier this month.
The other two – Renjith Maheswary and Mayookha Johny – had written to the AFI about their level of competitiveness, satisfying the officials, who however, insisted that Yadav should run a 10000M race to show his fitness level.
Yadav, based in Ooty, came down to Coimbatore on Friday and ran 25 laps around the Nehru Stadium track in 32:02.9, with AFI technical official Haridas as the observer.
“We had set a target of 32:30 for the 10000M but he completed the race well before that,” said K S Mathew, Yadav’s coach. “He is pleased with the effort and now, we will continue our training in Ooty till he leaves for London.”
After the 10000M run, Yadav did a 5000M race, a 2000M run and a 1000M run in five-minute intervals as part of his training run.
“We are in the two-hour, 14-minute range for London. He is feeling confident about his training,” said Mathew.