New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) Defending champion Srinu Bugatha will lead the Indian elite men’s category alongside Abhishek Pal, Avinash Sable and Pradeep Singh at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon slated to be held on November 29.
Pal and Sable carried out a thrilling race at ADHM 2018, running neck-and-neck until the final five kilometers before Pal broke away and finished as the fastest Indian in that edition. The national record holder in 3000m steeplechase – Sable became the first Indian to qualify for the Olympics since 1952 in his discipline last year.
Pradeep, who won the half marathon race at the Tata Mumbai Marathon 2018, will also add further teeth to the competition.
The winner of the half marathon race at the Mumbai Marathon earlier this year, Parul Chaudhary, will lead the Indian elite women’s category along with Sanjivani Jadhav, Monika Athare and Chinta Yadav. Chaudhary broke the course record of Mumbai Marathon (Half Marathon race) earlier this year with a timing of 1:15:37. She has finished second in the last two editions of the Delhi Half Marathon.
Monika finished with a bronze medal at the Mumbai Marathon in January this year. She also triumphed in the Indian elite women’s category of the Delhi Half Marathon in 2016.
Chinta who ran alongside Parul for most of the race at the Delhi Half Marathon last year, finished at the third place in the event. She improved her timing by a whopping six minutes as compared to her performance in ADHM 2018.
Sanjivani, on the other hand, has won a bronze at the 2018 Asian Cross Country Championships in China and also triumphed at the 2018 TCS World 10K Bengaluru.
Adille Sumariwala, President, Athletics Federation of India said, “The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon has always set a high benchmark in road racing. It will be interesting to see our Indian athletes Srinu Bugatha, Parul Chaudhary among others make our country proud in the World Athletics Gold Label Road Race.”
“Running alongside seasoned international names like Andamlak Belihu and Tsehay Gemechu will be a huge motivating factor for all the Indian Elite athletes. I wish them all the very best,” he added.
–IANS
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