Sable, Pal lead Indian charge at 12th TCS World 10K run

Long distance runners Avinash Sable, Abhishek Pal and Lakshmanan G will spearhead the Indian elite men's field at the 12th edition of the TCS World 10K Bengaluru here Sunday.

Two debutants -- Pradeep Singh Chaudhary and Ranjeet Kumar Patel, will also be in action in the event which will see the winners get richer by Rs 2,75,000, while the runner-up take home Rs 2,00,000.

The third-placed runner will fetch a cheque of Rs 1,50,000.

The Indian women's elite field will be headlined by course-record holder Sanjivani Jadhav who will face stiff competition from two-time TCS World 10K champion Swati Gadhave (2015 & 2016).

Kiran Sahdev and Parul Chaudhary will further strengthen the field.

At the 2018 Delhi Half Marathon, Jadhav finished on top among Indians with Chaudhary finishing second behind her.

Their rivalry goes back to 58th National Open Athletics Championships held in September 2018, where Jadhav won a gold with Chaudhary in second place in the women's 5000m event.

Steeplechase National Record Holder Sable will face some stiff competition from Abhishek Pal, who was a winner among Indians at the Delhi Half Marathon 2018.

"It's a good field but I am not thinking about my competitors. I feel I am my own competition, that keeps me on my toes to improve further," said Pal, a product of the Elite Distance Running Program (EDRP) by Procam International along with SAI and Global Sports Communications.

Pal, who had beaten Sable to top position at the Delhi Half Marathon, sounded confident ahead of the race day.

"I will have my eyes on the course record, and if I can manage the niggle in my knee I surely will go after it," he said of breaking the national course record of 29:49 set by Suresh Kumar in 2015.

G Lakshmanan who comes back to the event after two years was happy to be back.

"I have trained for this and will look to break the course record if everything falls in place," said Lakshmanan, who had won the 2016 edition.

Indian elite women's course-record holder Jadhav though kept it simple.

"There is no pressure and there was none even when I broke the record," she stated.

"The field is pretty good but last time around, TCS World 10K was before Asian Championship and that kept me at the peak of my training and it's the other way round this time so this change in schedule will also pose a huge challenge this time," Jadhav added.

The course record bonus stands at Rs 2,00,000.