Leading Indian athletes for TCS World 10K
PRESS RELEASE: May 24, 2011
India's best track and long distance running talent will be on display at the TCS World 10K Bangalore, 2011, with most of the leading runners, including four of the five winners from the past three years, having confirmed their participation in the world's premier 10K run, which will be flagged off from the Shree Kanteerava Stadium on June 5,according to event promoters Procam International. "This is the strongest ever Indian field assembled for the World 10K and we can expect some super fast timings on June 5," said fomer Asian marathon champion Sunita Godara the coordinator for Indian Elite Athletes at the TCS World 10 K Bangalore, 2011.
While the Indian athletes have a chance of winning a piece of the overall prize money purse if they finish within the top 10 positions overall, they also have a separate prize money purse for Indian athletes, amounting to Rs 17.70 lakh that they can lay claim to. The Indian male and female winners stand to gain Rs 2 lakh each, with prize money filtering down to 10th position.
The men's field will be led by defending champion Sunil Kumar, who has a current best of 29.30 mins, and National Games gold medal winner Suresh Kumar, with a best of 28.59. Also in the fray will be last year's runner-up Arvind Kumar Yadav and 2008 champion Kashinath Asawale. Besides these, the other leading runners among the men will be Indrajeet Patel, the fastest in the field with a current best of 28.53, besides being the Asian Championship gold medal winner over 3km, M D Yunus (29.30), Kheta Ram (29.49), V L Dangi (29.57), Elam Singh (30.20). More renowned for their exploits in the longer distances, but also known to pack a punch over 10km will be names like Deep Chand (National marathon winner 2010), B C Tilak (winner, Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2011), Irappa D Akki (winner Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2011), Soji Mathew and Ratti Ram Saini, to name a few.
The women's field will have local girl Preethi L Rao, winner in 2008 and 2010 leading the field, along with Kavita Raut, winner in 2009 and medalist at the 2010 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. Also in the fray will be Sudha Singh, steeple chase gold medal winner at the 2010 Asian Games. Besides these the leading Indian women who have confirmed participation are M Sudha (runner-up last year), Priyanka Singh Patel (winner, Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2011, Shastri Devi,(runner-up Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2011 and winner 2010),Lalita Babbar (winner Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2010), Kiran Tiwari and Bhagwati, to name a few.
A total of around 100 elite Indian athletes will run alongside the foreign elite athletes in the World 10K category for men and women on Race Day.
