This year, the international half-marathon dedicated to the Tajik Capital City Day will take place on April 19.

According to the Dushanbe City hall, representatives of all regions of the country will participate in this race.

Besides, athletes from cities, which are twinned with Dushanbe, including Gamja (Azerbaijan), Lusaka (Zambia), Sana'a, Yemen, Monastir (Tunisia), Klagenfurt (Austria), Lahore (Pakistan), Boulder (Colorado, USA), Reutlingen (Germany), Mazar-i Sharif (Afghanistan), Tehran (Iran), Shiraz (Iran), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Minsk (Belarus), Urumqi (China), Ankara (Turkey), Xiamen (China), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), and Qindao (China) will be invited to participate in the half-marathon in Dushanbe, a source within the Dushanbe City Hall told Asia-Plus in an interview.

Athletes from Moscow, Tashkent, Nur-Sultan and Bishkek will also be invited to participate in the  in the upcoming half-marathon.

The Dushanbe budget has reportedly allocated more than 493,000 somonis to award the winners, the source added.    

The Dushanbe International Hal-Marathon is the main event to celebrate the Tajik Capital City Day.  The Capital City Day is marked in Tajikistan on the third Saturday of April, and this year, it will be marked on April 17.

The first Dushanbe International Half-Marathon (21.097 kilometers) took place in April 2010 and athletes from 14 Dushanbe’s sister cities participated in that race.