Gopi Thonakal became the first Indian man to win the Asian Marathon Championship on Sunday. He achieved the feat in the 16th edition of the event in Dongguan, China.
The Indian runner finished the marathon with a time 2 hours 15 minutes and 48 seconds to clinch the gold medal. Andrey Petrov of Uzbekistan bagged the silver with a timing of 2:15:51s while Byambalev Tseveenravdan of Mongolia won bronze by clocking 2:16:14s.
His finish in China was short short of his personal best. His best timing was clocked at the the Rio Olympics in 2016 where he had finished 25th with a time of 2 hr 15 minutes and 25 seconds.
India's #Gopi Thonakal wins Dongguan #Marathon in China- 14th Asian Marathon Championship; Time- 2hrs15mins48sec; Congrats Gopi! @Adille1 @Media_SAI @Ra_THORe @IndiaSports @asianathletics pic.twitter.com/hO60pz3wu3
— Athletics Federation (@afiindia) November 26, 2017
Gopi also became the first Indian man to win the title after the formation of separate Asian Marathon championships. Earlier Asha Agarwal won the women’s title when it was part of the biennial Asian Track & Field Championships.
T Gopi becomes only the third Indian after Asha Aggarwal (1985, Jakarta) and Sunita Godara (1992, Bandung) to win gold at the Asian Marathon Championship and the second since it was moved out as a separate event away from the Asian Athletics Championships. https://t.co/j7I8Qu8C49
— G Rajaraman (@g_rajaraman) November 26, 2017
Earlier this year, Gopi had finished a decent 28th in the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championship in London.
With inputs from PTI