Bangalore: On the eve of the ninth edition of the TCS World 10K landed in the city, were the event's top Indian participants - Olympic Qualifier Nitendra Singh Rawat along with 10,000 Metres Fed Cup winner, G Lakshman amongst the men and debut runners at the TCS World 10K Kiran Sachdev and Federation Cup Silver Medalist, Sanjeevani Yadav.
The Men's Elite field boasts of some of the finest runners from across the country. Lead by Olympic Qualifier Nitendra Singh Rawat who has started to enjoy the world of road racing due to its competitive spirit shared, "I specifically practice for the distance of Marathon running, but given my 29:59 at the Federation Cup earlier this year, I decided to participate at the TCS 10K to improve my time."
Adding through the afternoon that while he was better at the distance events than speed events, Road Running was his "thing" having qualified for Rio in his first attempt at a Marathon. Joining him in the front is 10,000 Metre Fed Cup Winner, G Lakshmanan who knows he has tough competition on the field in and shares the level of confidence of Nitendra saying, "My event is the 500 Metre track but I have made up my mind to do my best here. This is my first TCS W10k and I look forward to making a very strong impression. I have made up my mind to do the best I can and be the toughest competitor." Both these young men will be joined by M D Yunus, replicating the trio that dominated the 10,00 Meter event at the Fedaration Cup earlier this year.
Amongst the women, leading will be Sanjeevani Jadhav who clocked 33:52 seconds at the World University Games in 2015 and in the Federation Cup timed a 34:43 seconds for the 10,000 metres second to Swati Gadave, who is also participating at the TCS W10K on her return from the World University Games in Denmark. These girls will also be joined by first runner-up of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, Manisha Salunkhe (01:19:17). While defending champion L Surya's participation in the race is in question due to a stomach bug.
All the elite runner will be gunning for a share of the total prize pot of US$ 197,768, with INR 2,50,000 each going to the men's and women's race winners.
