Jyoti, Monika to lead Indian elite women's challenge in Marathon

​New Delhi: Last edition silver and bronze medallists Jyoti Gawte and Monika Raut will lead the Indian challenge in the elite women's race of the New Delhi Marathon to be held on Sunday.

Jyoti of Maharashtra won the 2017 edition of the Mumbai Marathon and was also first runner-up of the New Delhi Marathon 2018 with a timing of 2:50:12 sec. 

Monika of Maharashtra Railways will be another top Indian woman in the fray. She finished third in the last edition with 2:55:02 sec. 

In the elite men's category, last edition bronze medallist Bahadur Singh Dhoni from Army Sports Institute, Pune, will be the top Indian in the fray. 

Dhoni is the winner of the Indira Marathon 2018 in Allahabad with a timing of 2:19:13 sec. He will face strong competition from fellow ASI Pune runner 

Rashpal Singh, runner-up of Indira Marathon 2018, with a timing of 2:19:19 sec. 

The 4th edition of the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon will be flagged off from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. It is a National Marathon Championship, recognised by the Athletics Federation of India. 

In the half marathon men's category, Shankar Man Thapa of ASI Pune will be amon the top runners. Thapa was second runners-up at this year's Mumbai Marathon last month. 

Uttam Bhujal of Sikkim, Kanhiya of UP Police and Deepak Singh will also be gunning for glory at this National Marathon Championship. The half marathon women's category will be led by Nitu Singh of Allahabad, who secured a third place in the 2017 edition by finishing in 1:27:11 sec. 

Nitu will face tough competition from Sindhu Yadav of Uttarakhand, Ujala of Punjab and Arpita Saini of Mujjafarnagar.