Kartik Kumar.
| Photo Credit: File Photo
Asian Games silver medallist Kartik Kumar and bronze medallist Gulveer Singh will be among the leading Indian runners to compete in the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K to be held on Sunday.
After Gulab Chand in 1998, 24-year-old Kartik became the first Indian to win an Asian Games medal in 10,000m. Kartik, who bagged the 10,000m silver with 28:15.38 at the Hangzhou Asian Games, will be the star among home runners.
Kartik clocked 1:04:08 to finish second among the Indians in the Delhi half-marathon this year.
He will be challenged by training partner Gulveer, who took the Asiad 10,000m bronze with 28:17.21 to ensure a two-three finish for the country in Hangzhou.
Olympian Gopi T., the first Indian male to win the Asian marathon championship crown in 2017 in China with a timing of 2:15:48, will be in the fray. In October last, he competed in the TCS Amsterdam Marathon and finished with 2:14:58.
Having won the Indian women’s category at the TCS World 10K Bengaluru 2023 with 00:34:12, Tamsi Singh will look to earn another memorable finish in the Indian women’s category. She was fifth among the Indians at the Delhi half-marathon with a timing of 1:18:01.
Ekta Rawat, who was eighth in Delhi with 1:21:30, and Nilima Thakur, who was fourth among Indians last year here with 1:39:48, will also be ready for the opportunity.
The first three in Elite Indian men and women’s categories will win ₹2.75 lakh, ₹2 lakh and ₹1.5 lakh respectively. The Indian men and women runners will stand to get an event record bonus of ₹1 lakh each.