Parents should have the responsibility to push their children into sports, said Narain Karthikeyan, India’s first ever Formula One racer.

Attending the launch of the third edition of the Coimbatore Marathon-2015, Narain Karthikeyan, who also is the first Asian to win a Formula Asian International Series, said that sport teaches discipline to children and helps them to lead a healthy life. “Most of the people in India are busy and not leading healthy lifestyles. Only involvement in sports can change this. It also helps in averting diseases,” he said.

Narain also stated that Marathons impart competing spirits into individuals and added that it inspires one to persevere despite hardships. “Marathon gives sporting spirit and I congratulate the team for organizing the event like a world class event. I have visited many places and I surely believe that this is event is equal to any international event,” he informed.

Ramesh Ponnusamy, the Race Director of the Coimbatore Marathon said that as many as 10752 participants have registered for the marathon which would be held in three categories. “We have the Half Marathon, the 10 Km Marathon and 5 Km Marathon in which 1113 participants, 3115 participants and 6554 participants have registered respectively and 86 percent of them are male. We have also introduced the Veterans category in each marathon in which persons above the age of 45 can participate,” he informed.

Narain Karthikeyan later unveiled the official t-shirt of the Marathon whose theme is ‘How far would you go?’, and also unveiled the race medals for the winners and the finishers.