Asian Cross Country C'ships: Gulveer, Karthik to lead the Indian challenge

India is sending a strong 16-member contingent to the Asian Cross-Country Championships, set to take place at Fanling Golf Park, Hong Kong, China, on October 20th.

After achieving their best-ever finish in the 2023 edition, India will aim for another successful outing this year.

Over 16 editions of the championships, India has won a total of 35 medals.

Eight members of the squad will compete in the senior event, led by Asian Games medalists Karthik Kumar and Gulveer Singh, while former medalist Sanjivani Jadhav and Olympian Ankita will represent the women’s team.

Gulveer Singh aims for India's first-ever senior individual gold

Indian male players have only won one gold medal at the senior Asian Cross-Country Championships, achieved by the men’s team back in 1993, but they have yet to secure an individual gold in the senior category.

Gulveer Singh, who is in exceptional form this year, will be aiming to break that streak and claim a gold medal in the men’s senior individual event.

Singh holds the national records in both the 5000m and 10,000m categories and recently shattered his own 5000m record by 7 seconds earlier this month.

On the women’s side, Sanjivani Jadhav will be vying for her second medal at these championships, following a bronze in 2018.

Last year’s bronze medalist Sonika, along with rising long-distance runner Ankita, will also be strong contenders for medals.

Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams will be competing for the team medals, which will be determined by the combined final positions of the top three runners from each country.

Squad:

Senior men: Gulveer Singh, Abhishek Pal, Arun Rathod, Karthik Kumar.

Senior women: Ankita, Seema, Sanjivani Jadhav, Sonika.

Junior men: Amardeep Pal, Kripashankar Yadav, Vinod Singh, Gaurav Bhaskar Bhosale.

Junior women: Ekta Dey, Sunita Devi, Shilpa Dhiora, Prachi Ankush Devkar

Schedule

October 20th (Timings in IST)

7:15 AM - Women U20 (6km)

7:45 AM - Men U20 (8km)

8:20 AM - Senior Women (10km)

9:10 AM - Senior Men (12 Km)

Live Streaming

There is no official live broadcast for the event in India but the races will be live-streamed on the YouTube channel of the Hong Kong Athletics Association (HKAA).