Kolkata: The seventh edition of the Kolkata Marathon here tomorrow will have a depleted field as India's top two long distance runners, Preeja Sridharan and Kavita Raut, along with defending champion Binning Lyngkhoi pulled out of the meet.
In a last minute measure, the organisers who had announced the trio's name in a media briefing yesterday have roped in Sudha Singh, the 3000m steeplechase champion in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.
Sudha will run in the 11km 'mini marathon' event, while Uttarkhand athlete Angad Kumar, the last year's runner-up, will compete in the main event.
Asian Games gold medallist Preeja is currently in Munnar for a high altitude training while Kavita, who won the 10,000m silver in Guangzhou, too is with the Indian camp at SAI Bangalore.
Bringing embarrassment to the organisers, Preeja claimed she did not receive any invitation from the Kolkata Marathon.
"I've not been communicated about this. In fact, I'm not running in any competition," Preeja told PTI.
"Our focus is currently on the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games later this year."
Preeja and Kavita, who also had a silver-bronze finish in the 5,000m event of the Asian Games, are busy with national camps ahead of the Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championship in April.
As for the defending champion Binning, who is associated with the Army Sports Institute in Pune, the target is January 19's Mumbai Marathon so as to attain the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark.
"Our runners will not get any recovery time for the important Mumbai Marathon. So, we're not sending any runners to Kolkata," ASI athletics coach Mohan Chandra told PTI.
Preeja, Kavita and Binning's name were announced by Swapan Raha of the Athletic Coaches' Association of Bengal.
"It's unfortunate. But we've other runners to make it competitive," Raha said.
Lyngkhoi had set the course record at 2:20.49s in the last edition.
As a matter of fact, only Indian runners compete in the Kolkata Marathon to give an exposure to the country's talents.
Apart from the main event and the 11-km race, the meet will also feature three other categories -- Fun Run or Walk, Corporate Run or Walk and School Run of 4.2 kms each.
The event carries a total prize purse of Rs 11.10 lakh including the winner's cheque of Rs 3.20 lakh in the main marathon and Rs 1.20 lakh in the mini marathon for the women's.
This year, Tata Medical Centre is the title sponsor of the event that seeks to raise support for the underprivileged cancer patients at their Rajarhat-based hospital.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, East Bengal footballers, singer Usha Uthup along with artists from Tollywood will also participate in the fun race giving the marathon a celebrity touch.
The main marathon will kick off at 6 am while the other events will start at 7 am on Red Road.
