Karnataka’s Shivanand Hadapad and Maharashtra’s Madhuri Deshmukh will be the two Indian runners who will be taken to Indonesia’s Java Island to compete with runners from around the world as part of a new initiative by a sports wear giant. 

Shivanand, 24, who is from a village near Hubli, was selected following his first place finish in the age-group of 15-24 in the TCS 10K run. Shivanand had clocked 35:48 and was fourth in the open category. 

Madhuri, based out of Mumbai, was the top-ranked girl in the same age-group. At a promotional event here on Friday by Nike to give away their Finisher T-shirts to the top 1000 finishers, the two said it was the first time that they would be taking the world’s top runners to a run. 

Speaking on the occasion, Shivanand, who competes in 1500M and 5000M disciplines, said that he initially thought it was a prank call by his friends.

“When I first came to know about going to Indonesia, I thought someone was trying to pull a fast one on me.”
 Indian footballers Sunil Chhetri and Robin Singh gave away the T-shirts.