Three Indians athletes, Man Singh, AB Belliappa and Karthik Kumar, secured the qualification standards for the Asian Games when they stormed to the podium in the New Delhi Marathon here today. They covered the distance inside 2:15:00, the time laid down by the Athletics Federation of India as the qualification standard for the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
The 33-year-old Man Singh won the National title in a personal best time of 2:14:13 today, improving upon the 2:16.58 he clocked in the Mumbai Marathon last month. In a thrilling finish on a pleasant morning, Man Singh edged out Appachangada Belliappa by two seconds to claim the top spot.
Karthik Kumar finished four seconds behind 31-year-old Belliappa, who also improved his personal best from 2:16:51 to 2:14:15. Kartik Kumar is the youngest of the trio at 23 years of age and was running his first recognised Marathon event, having run three Half Marathons in his career highlighted by a 10000m bronze medal in the Asian U20 Championships in Gifu in 2018.
Man Singh’s determination was on display as he executed his plans to a nicety. тАЬI am thrilled to have won the Delhi Marathon and qualified for the Asian Games. My second-place finish at the Mumbai Marathon gave me the confidence to push myself harder today,тАЭ he told AFI Media.
The Elite Women’s race was won by Jyoti Shankar Gawate in nail-biting finish with Ashvini Jadhav, finishing just two seconds ahead in a time of 2:53:04. Jigmet Dolma finished third in 2:56:41. The Asian Games standard of 2:37:00 remained some distance away from the bunch of elite women runner.
The results :
Elite Men : 1. Man Singh 2:14:13; 2. Appachangda Belliappa 2:14:15; 3. Karthik Kumar 2:14:19; 4. Anish Thapa Magar 2:17:20; 5. Kalidas Hirave 2:18:49.
Elite Women : 1. Jyoti Shankar Gawate 2:53:04; 2. Ashvini Madan Jadhav 2:53:06; 3. Jigmet Dolma 2:56:41; 4. Tsetan Dolkar 3:02:07; 5. Shyamali Singh 3:14:54.
