Bangalore, May 18 (UNI) Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea bagged the 1,50,000 Dollar Sunfeast World 10K title, while in the women's section, Grace Momanyi of Kenya and Elevan Abeylegesse of Turkey were declared joint winners here today.
In the keenly contested run, Zersenay braced 10 km in 27:51 secs just three seconds ahead of his rival Moses Kipsiro of Uganda, while Ethiopean Tsegaye Kebede, with timing of 28:10 secs, was placed third.
In the women's section, authorities, who had declared Elvan (32:00 secs) as the winner earlier, had to withheld the result following objection by Grace. The juries after going through the timing and finish recorded in the TV camera later declared them as joint winners with timing of 32:02 secs. Doris Chernwego of Kenya, who finished with a timing of 32:31 secs was placed third.
For 26-year-old Zersenay it was his maiden title in India.
The Eritrean lad said ''though I had decided to finish first in the run, Moses gave tough fight especially before 50 m to the finishing point. But I pulled up my energy and made it despite the mercury touching at 32 degree Celsius. It was really good experience and the win was a moral booster on my way to win medal for my country in the Beijing Olympics.'' Moses said that ''though I wanted to overtake Zersenay to finish first, my legs did not respond to my call, so I lost the first place.
However, I am satisfied and have determined to build up my physical fitness before going to Beijing.'' While the winners (both men and women) bagged 20,000 Dollars each, winners of second and third place won 12,000 Dollars and 8,000 Dollars each.
UNI MSP SJ RAR VC1252