19 January,2014 02:09 AM IST | | Sundari Iyer
She may be on course to become the fastest Indian woman at the Mumbai Marathon again today, but for the 25-year-old, qualifying for the Asian Games and CWG is a priority
Mumbai: Having finished as the fastest elite Indian woman in the last two editions of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCMM), Lalita Babbar is eyeing a hat-trick today.
Lalita Babbar in action at the 2012 Mumbai Marathon
Even as defending her title is on her mind, Babbar said that her priority would be to qualify for the Commonwealth Games (Glasgow, Scotland) and Asian Games (Incheon, South Korea) later this year with a good timing in Mumbai.
The qualifying time for both the events is 2:45:00 while her personal best, which she achieved at the 2012 Mumbai Marathon, is of 2:53:35. Last year, she finished with a timing of 2:53.42.
"The chances of making it a hat-trick in Mumbai are high among Indian women as I have practiced well. My focus will be on breaking my last year's record and try to finish with a timing of less than 2:50:00. If I want to qualify for the Asian games, I need to ensure than I finish with a timing of 2:45:00," she told SUNDAY MiD DAY on Saturday.
"I am aware that achieving the qualifying timing is not going to be easy. "But if I qualify then it would be very good. Personally, it is more important to qualify than to emerge as the fastest Indian woman," she said.
Talking about her training, she said, "It's been over a month that I have been training for the marathon. There were no international marathons in 2013, so we were training by keeping the Asian Games and the CWG in mind."
Babbar's parents are farmers back in Satara, but they are very supportive of her athletics career. "There is no pressure on me from their side to get married. I have still a lot of things to achieve in life before I do that. For now, it's running that takes most of my time," she said.
