Man Singh becomes second Indian man to win gold at Asian Marathon Championships

Athlete Man Singh became only the second Indian man to clinch a gold medal at the Asian Marathon Championships as he won the race with a personal best time in Hong Kong on Sunday.

The 34-year-old Singh clocked 2 hours, 14 minutes and 19 seconds (2:14:19) to win the competition. His earlier best was 2:16:58, which he had clocked while finishing 11th in the Mumbai Marathon last year. India’s national record in men’s marathon belongs to Shivnath Singh, who clocked 2:12:00 in Jalandhar back in 1978. 

In Hong Kong, China's Huang Yongzheng took the silver with a time of 2:15:24 while Kyrgyzstan’s Tiapkin Ilya came in third with 2:18:18. Another Indian in the fray, AP Belliappa, finished sixth with a time of 2:20:20. 

In the women's marathon, India's Ashvini Madan Jadhav finished eighth with a time of 2:56:42 while Jyoti Gawate ended at 11th in 3:06:20.

Incidentally, Gopi Thonakal was the first Indian man to win the Asian Marathon Championships title in 2017, clocking 2:15:48 to win the gold in Dongguan, China.

Singh's time on Sunday was, however, below the Paris Olympics qualifying mark of 2:08:10. He had finished eighth at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year in 2:16:59.