Indian athletes viewing Delhi half marathon as training event

The Indian men athletes will use the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon as a build-up for the Mumbai marathon where they will have the opportunity to earn qualifications for the 2016 Olympics.

Nitender Singh Rawat, Gopi T. and Mohd Yunus are training in Ooty at the national camp and will be India's main competitors for Sunday.

"This event will give us the chance to know where we stand and what are the areas we need to work on for further development so that we can perform well in Mumbai and get the qualification (for Rio 2016)," Nitender told reporters on Friday.

However, Nitender said that he along with his teammates will leave no stone unturned when they start the race on Sunday.

"We have been training at the national camp for a while now and are in good shape. It will be difficult to comment who leads the race, however, we intend to finish the ADHM 2015 in better time than last year," he added.

When asked if the fog would be an issue in the current edition of ADHM, Gopi mentioned that "we are prepared for the rough weather and will run through fog if required".

Meanwhile, women's team coach Nikolai Snesarev is very positive and looks forward to a new national record from his wards at the Sunday race.

"The Indian contingent is very dedicated and has been practicing very hard over the past few months completing all stages of preparation for an elite event such as ADHM 2015," he said.

O.P. Jaisha, Sudha Singh, Kavita Raut and Lalita Babbar will be the favourites to bag the title.