Ram Singh to lead Indian men's field in Mumbai Marathon

Mumbai - Ram Singh Yadav, the defending champion and the course record holder among Indians, having clocked 2:16.59 in 2012, will lead the Indian field in the 10th edition of the Mumbai Marathon to be run on Sunday.

Yadav, who finished a creditable 12th overall to win his fourth title among Indian men, also qualifying for the London Olympics in the process, will be looking to salvage some pride after a poor run in the Games when he takes the starter’s flag here on Sunday.

The other fancied Indian names among the men are last year’s runner-up and 2:18 athlete Elam Singh, besides Lyngkhoi Bining, Angad Kumar, Ashish Singh, K.C. Ramu and Sanaton Singh, all of whom have a personal best of below 2:20.

The half marathon field will see the return of defending champion Soji Mathew, who will have some tough competition from the likes of M.D. Yunus, V.L. Dangi, Kheta Ram, Man Singh, Budha Ram and Laxman Singh, all 10 km runners with personal best of 30 minutes and below.

The notable names among the full marathon among Indian women are defending champion Lalita Babbar, last year’s runner-up Kiran Tiwari, besides Shastri Devi, Bhagwati, Anisa Devi and M. Sudha.

The women’s half marathon has the most competitive field with names like Kavita Raut, Sudha Singh, Monica Athare, Priyanka Singh Patel and Anuradha Singh, to name a few.

The Indians have an extra incentive of Rs.1 lakh for a new course record. The men’s and women’s full marathon winners stand to gain Rs.4.5 lakh each while the men’s and women’s half marathon winners will win $2000 each.