Surender Singh gunning for top-10 finish in Beijing

It did not take much time to pick up the basics in middle and long-distance events as in the next one year he made the India ranks under national coach Dr Nikolai Snesarev in Bangalore.

Having already achieved the 8216;B8217; qualification mark for the Olympics, Surender is now the best shot for India in 10,000m event.

And the unassuming 30-year-old does not forget to give the full credit to coach Ridmal who was instrumental in him becoming a middle and long-distance runner from that of cross country event.

8220;He Ridmal has been the force behind my success 8212; whatever I8217;ve achieved is all because of him. Forget making the Olympics, I might not have achieved this much of success had I not come to the ASI and under the guidance of Ridmal sir,8221; Surender, who now trains in Bangalore, said.

The ace runner goes on to add that it8217;s his recent training at the high-altitude Munnar in Kerala that worked wonders for him. 8220;I thank Kerala government for giving me the opportunity to train there. Having trained at 1600m above sea level, I could achieve the 28.10s mark. It showed in the two-month stint in Europe, where I achieved the B qualification mark for Beijing. Obviously, this Munnar training is the turning point in making the Olympics,8221; Surender said.

The long-distance runner qualified for the Beijing Olympics in the 10,000m event, clocking an impressive 28:02.89s, a new national record, to finish fourth at the Spanish Olympic trials in Vigo on July 12.

Earlier, the Pune-trained runner had wiped out two of the oldest standing national records within a span of 10 days when on June 5, Surender eclipsed Bahadur Prasad8217;s 16-year-old 1500m record.

He clocked 7:50.31s at St Mary8217;s Classic Meet at Twickenham, London to erase Prasad8217;s feat of 7:56.74s set in London in May 1992 and on June 14 and went on to register himself as one of the greatest ever athletes of the country when he bettered the 32-year-old 10,000m record of 28:48:72, held by the legendary Hari Chand, by more than 20 seconds by timing 28:22.79 at Watford, England.

However, the runner feels he has to break into the 27minutes mark so as to make any impact at the Olympics level.

8220;My timing in the range of 28 minutes even won8217;t earn me a place inside top 10, which is my realistic target. For this, I8217;m training very hard to break the 27-minute barrier. If I can get there, a top 10 finish is what I8217;m looking for. A medal, though, seems a remote possibility at the moment,8221; Surender admits.

However, he adds that the Asian runners have an edge in the Beijing where the condition is humid and hot. 8220;We are used to run in high humid condition and where the temperature is above 30 degree centigrade. I guess the European and American runners will find it difficult to adjust there, so it will be a competition between the Asian runners,8221; Surender, whose competition is on August 17, said.

Surender, incidentally, is the first athlete from the Garhwal Rifles in 122 years to book a berth in the Olympics. Born in a farmer8217;s family at Gairsain village in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, running was more of necessity for Surender who used to run nearly 10km a day to attend his school.

Having joined the Garhwal Rifles in 1999, Surender represented the Army in the national cross country held in Shimla in 2003, which earned him his maiden international cap for India and then the Asian Cross Country in 20004 Pune brought him under the ASI radar.