TCS World 10K run: Naveen, Saigeetha emerge Indian best

Bengaluru: Late entrant Naveen Kumar justified the top billing, bounding his way to the finish line in 30:56 seconds to bag the top Indian male runner award even as Saigeetha Naik clinched the women’s award with a comfortable 29-second lead.

Naveen, a steeplechaser, arrived only late on Saturday but showed little signs of being frazzled as he took the gold ahead of Air Force athlete Sandeep Tayade (31:02s) and army man Shankar Man Thapa (31:07s).

Naveen, who obtained a late release from the camp, came with a plan and executed it to perfection as he stuck with the group before peeling off in the last two kilometres leaving the then leader Thapa to ponder on whether to accelerate or hold steady. The decision to choose the latter came with a price as Tayade pipped him for the silver medal.

“If I get a chance to run, I want to run for the win,” said Naveen “I had a plan and I’ve been preparing with speed training for the international meets. So that helped.”

‘Could have had better timing’
The women’s race also saw much the same with Saigeetha and Kiran Sahdev exchanging leads till the eight-kilometre mark following which the former upped the ante. Kiran took the silver medal for her effort of 36:30 seconds while 21-year-old Preenu Yadav wrapped up the podium spot by coming in third at 36:46 seconds.

Despite the victory, Saigeetha revealed that she would have been happier and pushed harder had the field been as strong as it was the previous years. With the Federation Cup looming, few of the top contenders had pulled out to prepare for the tournament and qualification for international meets.

“I just wanted to give my best performance and wasn’t expecting to win. I could have had better timing because I have done so in training. But I couldn’t. Maybe if the others (who are away with the national camp) add been there then they could have pushed me harder,” she remarked.