Tennis legend Boris Becker to visit Kolkata on 18 December

Kolkata: German tennis icon Boris Becker will be in town on a two-day visit during the third edition of the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K run, to be held on 18 December, organisers said on Saturday. The three-time Wimbledon champion, who has coached former world number one Novak Djokovic to six Grand Slam titles since December 2013, will arrive here on the eve of the race and interact with the participants at the Kshudiram Anushilan Kendra. [caption id=“attachment_2341990” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Boris Becker. Getty Images[/caption] “Early morning on the race day, Becker will be there at the flagoff on the Red Road. We have got his confirmation,” Dilip Jayaram, CEO of the Procam International, the organisers, told PTI. The 49-year-old Becker is the brand ambassador of Puma, a German sports kit manufacturer. City’s biggest sporting icon Sourav Ganguly is the face of the TSK25K and the former India cricket captain will promote Rs 22 lakh prize money event. Though he will not be present on the race day. “We are told that he will be out of country so he will not be able to make it on December 18,” Jayaram said. The number of participants, which was 8200 last year, is expected to be more with about 30 percent rise in the registration, Jayaram said. Talking about the concept of 25K, he said: “It’s just outside of the halfmarathon and before the full marathon, making it a perfect stepping stone towards the gruelling 42.195km race.” India’s top runners like Lalita Babar, OP Jaisha may skip the race as they are recovering from a tough season featuring Rio Olympics. But Swati Gadhave, who won the 10K event of Indian women’s category in Bengaluru earlier this year, is a likely to participate. “We are yet to get details about the elite runners but we are hopeful of a top field,” Jayaram said. Sudha Singh shattered the meet record by more than six seconds to clinch the elite women’s title in an hour, 27 minutes and 31 seconds, while 33-year-old Elam Singh topped the men’s field last year with a timing of 1:20:14.