Bangalore: Former winner Ethiopia's Deriba Merga will be seeking to re-establish himself as the most feared front-runner in Road Racing when the TCS World 10K Bangalore race is held here Sunday with Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda flagging off the event.
Merga, who also won the Delhi Half Marathon has already showcased his form with a sub-60 minute time in the hilly New York Half Marathon.
The other formidable Ethiopians are Feyisa Lelisa, bronze medallist in the marathon in last year's world championships and Dino Sefir, his former team and training partner who last year left their stable and has since made a big breakthrough, running 2:04 in Dubai in January to clinch an Olympic place.
Uganda's Moses Kipsiro has been runner-up in Bangalore and has already shown great track form this season over 5000m.
The Kenyan charge will be led by two new comers on the block. Dennis Kimetto burst onto the scene in February, winning the RAK Half, backing it up with a sub-60 minute run to win the Berlin Half.
He then established himself as a world star last month by breaking the world record for 25km, again in Berlin. In three outings off Kenyan soil he is yet to be defeated.
Victor Kipchirchir will relish the challenge from Kimetto after his fine 59 minute half recently and Geoffrey Kipsang, runner-up last term in Delhi will also, no doubt, be looking to go one better.
The ladies' field is no less impressive with Grace Momanyi, a past winner heading the grid along with her Kenyan teammates Philes Ongori and front running Doris Changeywo, all looking for a form indicator prior to the Kenyan trials.
Ethiopians Merima Mohammed, Namibian Hilalia Johannes and Hungarian Aniko Kalovics are the other fancied women athletes.
Indian long distance running ace Ram Singh Yadav will be using the event Sunday as a time trial, part of his build-up to the marathon in the London Olympics and he hopes to also finish among the winners from a strong and talented Indian men's elite athlete field.
Yadav will have for competition the 22-year-old defending champion Suresh Kumar, who is looking to not only retain his crown but also improve upon his last year's time of 30.17 minutes.
The other leading Indian men in the fray are BC Tilak, Rati Ram Saini, Kheta Ram, Santosh Kumar, V.L. Dangi and Soji Mathew, to name a few.
In the women category, the Indian challenge will be headed by Lalita Babbar whose favourite event is the half marathon, but possesses a good turn of speed and is also confident of doing well Sunday.
While the world 10K will have 136 participants, there will be 3,060 runners in the Open 10K, 390 in the Corporate Challenge, 11,018 in the Majja Run, 785 in the Senior Citizens' Run and 91 in the Wheelchair Event. (IANS)
