Kenya's Kiprop to replace marathoner Kiplagat at Kolkata road race

NAIROBI, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Florence Kiplagat has withdrawn from the Kolkata (India) 25km on Dec. 17, organizers confirmed on Wednesday.

Kiplagat failed to defend her Chicago marathon title in October and was forced to withdraw from the race after the 25km.

She however, feels that the Kolkata race has come too soon and her body will not be able to take more pressure. Instead she will focus on recovering her fitness before committing herself to another race.

"I still need to rest the body. It took a lot of punishing in Chicago in the high paced race and I still don't have enough energy to compete soon in India," said Kiplagat.

Organizers have since replaced Kiplagat with former world marathon silver medalist Helah Kiprop. Kiplagat had been on course for a sub-2:20 finish in Chicago, but she withdrew shortly after 25 kilometers.

Another Kenyan, Valentine Kipketer and Ethiopia's Dibabe Kuma will be the main rivals to counter Kiprop, who has raced on four occasions in India before.

Kiprop won in 2012 in India during the TCS World 10km Championship and was also the champion a year later at the Cochin Half Marathon.

Her third appearance was last year where she was third at the Delhi half marathon and she returned in March this year for the Bangalore 10km.

In the men's race, World 5,000m and 10,000m record-holder Kenenisa Bekele will be the star attraction. Bekele's main opposition includes Tanzania's Augustine Sulle and Dickson Marwa and Eritrea's Tsegay Tuemay.

It will be the first race in India for Bekele, a three-time Olympic gold medallist and 18-time world champion on the track and cross-country, and the first time he has ever raced over the distance.

Bekele's 25km best is 1:12:47, an intermediate time when he ran in the Berlin Marathon last year, which he went on to win in 2:03:03 and go second on the all-time list for the classic distance. Enditem