Jepkosgei to run in half marathon
NEW DELHI: Kenya’s world half marathon record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei has been added to the women’s elite field for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, brightening prospect of a mouth-watering head-to-head with three-time Olympic gold medallist Tirunesh Dibaba.
The pair have met twice before. Firstly, at last year’s Ras al Khaimah Half Marathon when Jepkosgei finished third and the Ethiopian legend was fifth; secondly in May this year at the Manchester 10km in Great Britain when Dibaba (whose participation in the ADHM 2018 has been previously announced) got the upper hand with a convincing win — 31:08 to 31:57 — with the Kenyan runner in second place.
However, Jepkosgei will come to the ADHM 2018, scheduled for October 21, in fine form buoyed by a half marathon win over a classy local field in a high-altitude race in her native Kenya last Sunday.
“The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon is my first-ever trip to India and so I am very much looking forward to visiting and also competing against, once again, Tirunesh Dibaba as well as the rest of the field of accomplished and confident women,” said the 24-yearold Jepkosgei.
Jepkosgei grabbed international attention in an emphatic way on several occasions during 2017.
She set a world half marathon best of 64:52 in Prague in April last year and improved that mark by one second to 64:51 in the Spanish city of Valencia 12 months ago.
Sandwiched between these two record-breaking half marathon outings, Jepkosgei also became the first woman to run under 30 minutes for 10km on the roads when she he ran a world record of 29:43 on her return to the Czech capital Prague in September 2017.
KRISH, GARGI WIN FENESTA OPEN TITLES
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In the U-14 boys final, Udit Gogoi turned on the heat with smart play from the back court to crush Aman Dahiya 6-1, 6-4. The girls U-16 title was claimed by 2nd seed Renee Singh who beat Vaishnavi Adkar 7-5,6-2.
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SONEPAT: Haryana Steelers beat Gujarat Fortunegiants 32-25 to start their home leg of the Vivo Pro Kabaddi Season VI on a winning note. Steelers’ star raider Monu Goyat scored seven points and was supported by Kuldeep Singh who chipped in with seven points as well. For Gujarat, Sachin and Prapanjan combined to score 17 points. Steelers were the better team in the first half as they scored raid points at will with Monu and Kuldeep inflicting bulk of damage on Gujarat.