2017 Asian Marathon Championship in Dongguan , China - Gopi Thonakal becomes first Indian to win Asian Marathon Championship gold

Gopi Thonakal became the first Indian man to win Asian Marathon Championship after he achieved the feat in the 16th edition of the prestigious event

Gopi Thonakal clocked 2 hours, 15 minutes and 48 seconds to clinch the gold. 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.

The 29-year-old from Wayanad district of Kerala had won the New Delhi Marathon in 2.15.37 earlier this year. He was 28th in the London World Championships in August with a timing of 2:17:13.

In the 2016 Rio Olympics , he had clocked his personal best of 2.15.25 while finishing 25th.

Gopi Thonakal is the first Indian male runner to have won the Asian Marathon Championship. Vijay Singh (1988) and Deep Chand (2010) have earlier won a bronze each.

Gopi Thonakal is the third Indian overall to have won a gold in the event. Asha Agarwal won the women’s title in 1985 when the event was a part of the biennial Asian Track and Field Championships. Sunita Godara won the women’s title in 1992 after the event was moved out as a separate one away from the Asian Athletics Championships in 1988.

Vally Sathyabhama and Indiresh Dhiraj are the other two Indian women medallist as they have won a silver and bronze respectively in the 1998 edition.