Gopi Thonakal became the first Indian man to win 16th edition of Asian Marathon Championship
- He took 2 hours, 15 minutes and 48 seconds to clinch the gold.
- Gopi had won the New Delhi Marathon in 2.15.37 earlier this year.
- Andrey Petrov of Uzbekistan bagged the silver while Byambalev Tseveenravdan of Mongolia won bronze
- 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.
- He is the third Indian overall to have won a gold in the event.
- Asha Agarwal won the women’s title in 1985. Sunita Godara won the women’s title in 1992
- 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.
