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Top female runners for Kenya
With just eight months to go for the 2012 London Olympic Games, the country’s top female distance runners are looking to the Kenyan highlands to lift their sagging form.
With just eight months to go for the 2012 London Olympic Games, the country’s top female distance runners are looking to the Kenyan highlands to lift their sagging form.
“Four middle and long-distance runners — Kavita Raut, Preeja Sreedharan, Sudha Singh and OP Jaisha (members of the core group preparing for the London Games in Bangalore) — will be going to Eldoret, a small town in the western rift valley of Kenya,” said Rahul Bhatnagar, a top official of the sports ministry.
The high-altitude centre houses several foreign experts who have set up training camps, said Bhatnagar.
The Indian runners will be working under the watchful eyes of renowned Italian expert Claudio Berardelli.
Bhatnagar said the advanced training will commence soon and will continue till April. Thereafter, the runners will shift base to Milan till July.
Meanwhile, India’s top female jumper Mayookha Johny will go for advanced training in Berlin. She is expected to leave later this month and will be there till July.
Johny has achieved the Olympic qualification mark, and is trying to do the same in long jump too. She will be training under Jorge Ramlow.
Coach JS Bhatia will accompany the runners while Shyam Kumar will accompany Mayookha.
