by NR INDRAN / INT

Seventy five Indian elite athletes, led by course record holder, Deep Chand and defending women’s champion, Lalita Babbar will take the starter’s flag, along with some of the world’s best long distance athletes in the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday, November 27. The qualifying times for the Indian men and women was below 1.10 mins and 1.25 mins respectively.

According to Sunita Godara, 1992 Asian Marathon Champion, coordinator for the Indian elites, the field in strong and upbeat about their showing on Sunday. Besides Deep Chand and Lalita, the other fancied Indian names are Priyanka Singh Patel, Kiran Tiwari, Sangeeta Yadav, Kheta Ram, Ratti Ram Saini and Lyngkhoi Bining.

Defending champion Lalita Babbar said, “Earlier I used to run 10km events and didn’t know whether I could do a marathon or not but the last edition of the Delhi Half Marathon was a totally fulfilling experience.

According to Priyanka Patel, the 2011 Mumbai Marathon winner, she loves the entire atmosphere at these international events and that helps here put in greater effort. “The people’s support is great and inspiring. The prize money is also good as they do not deduct tax from winners’ money,” she said.

Kiran Tiwari, who also had a good run last year and then went on to win the Jaipur Marathon in 2011 said he aim was to better her timing. “My aim is to better my timing and like 2010, this time too my toughest competitor will be Lalita, and I plan to run my best time here,” Lalita said.

All athletes were of the firm opinion that running along with these top class runners from across the world has helped improve their performances. “The international athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia inspire us to try for better performances and win medals for the country, added Lalita.”

The oldest among the Indian men but the fastest, Deepchand Saharan is looking forward to at least match his time of 1.04 or come within 1.05.  “I had no idea what long distance running was till my association with the Army in Pune. I started practicing for the marathon in 2001 and won the Pune International Marathon in 2007. I had to skip Asian Championship and Commonwealth Games 2010 due to injury but now I am in good shape.”

Deepchand’s mate from Rajasthan, Kheta Ram is also training at the Army Sports Institute and says his priority will be to work on his timing, besides working as a pace setter for Deepchand. They will have to fight off the challenge from Lynkhoi Bining, who is the fastest Indian marathoner and the winner of the Mumbai Marathon. “I will try to better my timing here, because I believe that if I run a fast half marathon I can do better in the Mumbai Marathon.”

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