Elite Indian athletes Rashpal Singh, Sher Singh, Jyoti Gawte and Monika Raut will vie for top honours in the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon here on Sunday.
Men's defending champion Rashpal, representing Army Sports Institute (ASI), Pune, has been in stellar form recently, having finished second in the South Asian Games in December and having won the Mumbai Marathon, and he will one again aim for a top spot finish in full marathon.
He will hope to ride on this momentum and even improve on his previous best timing of 02:19:19.
It will, however, not be easy as he will face fierce competition from his ASI team-mates Sher Singh and Bahadur Singh Dhoni.
Sher Singh finished second in last year's edition and, just like Rashpal, has been going through a great patch. His third-place finish in the South Asian Games and second-place finish in the Mumbai Marathon will hold him in good stead in New Delhi.
Bahadur, winner at the Allahabad Marathon 2019, will also fancy his chances and knows that one good burst could very well give him his first title in New Delhi.
In the women's category of the full marathon race, reigning champion Jyoti Gawte from Maharashtra will look to continue her dominance this year as well.
Jyoti finished third in the recently concluded South Asian meet and won the Mumbai Police International Marathon in the Indian female category as well.
Another title contender in the women's category is Monika Raut who finished second runner-up in the 2018 edition of the New Delhi Marathon. She will look to better her performance and push hard for the victory.
Certified by AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races), the New Delhi Marathon is recognised as a National Marathon Championship by Athletics Federation of India and will see over 18500 athletes taking part in four different categories -- full marathon (42.2km), half marathon (21.1km), 10K Timed Run and 5K Swachh Bharat Run.
All the categories will be flagged-off at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium by Indian cricket icon and IDBI Federal Life Insurance's brand ambassador Sachin Tendulkar.
The eve of the marathon turned out to be an extraordinary and motivating day for select marathoners, including four very special runners, as they got a chance to get up close and personal with Tendulkar.
The Master Blaster inspired them with some real life stories from his cricketing days while also urging them to never stop trying and give their best shot on Sunday.
The elite athletes will be competing for a total prize money of Rs 8.4 lakhs. The top five elite athletes in the full marathon category (both men's and women's) will receive the prize money as per their rankings.
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