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Bekele confirmed to run London Marathon
London, Jan 20 (IANS) Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele has confirmed that he is running the 2018 London Marathon, joining Britain’s Mo Farah and Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge on the start line on Sunday, April 22, organisers said here on Saturday.
The trio of Bekele, Farah and Kipchoge have a combined total of eight Olympic gold medals and 12 World Championship golds between them, reports Xinhua news agency.
Farah, 34, is the most decorated with four Olympic gold medals and six World Championship victories over 5,000m and 10,000m, while Bekele, 35, is the 5,000m and 10,000m world record holder (26:17:53), the second fastest marathon runner in history (2:03:03) and the owner of three Olympic and five World Championship gold medals.
Kipchoge, 33, who won the London Marathon twice, is widely seen as the greatest marathon runner of his generation. He has run an unratified marathon time of 2:00:25 and is the reigning Olympic champion over the 42.195 kilometers.
Hugh Brasher, Event Director of the London Marathon, said: “This is a truly mouth-watering prospect.”
Bekele has run the past two London Marathons, finishing third in 2016 and second last year.
Bekele said: “I am thrilled to be returning to London for the third year in a row and would love to go one better than last year and win the race. Once again London has brought the best distance runners in the world together so I know it will not be easy.”
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.