Defending champs Sable, Suriya to lead Indian challenge

On a high after breaking a 37-year-old steeplechase record, Services runner Avinash Sable will look to defend the men's title in the Indian category of the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K run here on December 16.

The fifth edition of the event will also have women's defending champion in L Suriya, the organisers announced Friday.

The 24-year-old Sable clocked 8:29.80 seconds at the 58th Open National Athletics Championship in Bhubaneswar in September to eclipse the old mark of 8:30.88 seconds recorded by Gopal Saini in Tokyo in 1981.

Sable is the course record holder with a time of 1:15:17 he clocked last year.

For company, he will have Kalidas Hirave, who was the first runner up at the TSK 2017 with a timing of 1:16:18; and the promising Abhishek Pal, who won the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon this year.

Suriya had clocked a timing of 1:26:53 last year to win the crown as she will face challenge from two-time Asian Games medal-winning steeplechaser Sudha Singh and young Monika Athare, who won the New Delhi Marathon 2018, will vie for top honours in the women's section.

There will also be a special category which will be contested between the Indian Army, Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force with five/six teams from each of the three services.

Each team will have three members running the 25K and the aggregate of their individual timings will determine the winners.