In his early years as a runner, Man Singh was mainly doing five and ten-kilometre events and cross-country races.

At the 2023 edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon (TMM), he shifted to the full marathon distance and won the silver medal from among Indian elite men. A year later he won the gold medal at the Asian Marathon Championships held on January 21, 2024 at Hong Kong.

A Naib Subedar in the Indian Army, Man Singh had a focussed training plan curated by his coaches with an eye on the 2024 Tata Mumbai Marathon. “ I was training for TMM but then I learnt about the 2024 Asian Marathon Championships, which was being held on the same day as TMM in Hong Kong,’’ he said. Man Singh was one of the four athletes chosen to represent India at that event; the others being A. B. Belliappa, Jyoti Gawate and Ashvini Jadhav.

A native of Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, Man Singh is posted at Ganganagar, Rajasthan. But he is more often in Pune and Ooty for training as decided by the Army Sports Institute (ASI).

At Hong Kong, Man Singh’s plan was to get close to the national marathon record of 2:12. “ The route was tough with too many inclines and declines. Also, the winds were quite strong,” he said.

He however sustained his lead to win the gold medal, covering the 42.2 kilometre-distance in 2:14:19, tad short of his personal best, which he had achieved at the 2023 edition of the New Delhi Marathon (2:14:13). He was more than a minute ahead of his nearest competitor, the athlete from China, who finished second.

“ I am happy with my timing at Hong Kong considering the toughness of the route,” he said. He now plans to attempt the marathon at the 2024 edition of New Delhi Marathon due to be held on the last Sunday of February.

Man Singh is the second Indian athlete to win the gold medal at Asian Marathon Championships. Gopi Thonakal had won the gold medal in 2017 with timing of 2:15:48.

For A. B. Belliappa too, the Asian Marathon Championships wasn’t originally on his plans for 2024. As of late 2023, he was in training for an event overseas in February 2024, when he was reassigned to the race in Hong Kong on January 21. The decision was taken in mid-December and there was a hitch in between – his marriage was set for late December. The function resulted in some distraction but Belliappa trained as best as he could despite his domestic obligations. “ On the whole, my preparation for Hong Kong wasn’t as good as it should have been,’’ Belliappa said. Weather on race day was generally alright; it wasn’t humid but it was quite windy. The course was tough with ups and downs. Belliappa said that he was in third place till the 38th kilometre. After that, the return of gradients took a toll and he slowed down. He finished sixth in the men’s race with timing of 2:20:19.    

Ashvini Jadhav said her training was quite good. She trains with Jyoti Gawate at Parbhani, Maharashtra. “We got to know about the Hong Kong race quite late. At Hong Kong, weather was good but the route was tough,” she said. She finished in 2:56:41. Her personal best in marathon is 2:53, which she achieved at NDM 2023. Ashvini finished eighth among women at the Asian Marathon Championships.

Jyoti finished eleventh among women with a timing of 3:06:20. “My timing suffered because I had some issues with my shoes. My plan was to get close to 2:50,” she said. Both Jyoti and Ashvini were part of the IAU 50 km World Championship held at Hyderabad in November 2023.

The Asian Marathon Championships was held as part of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2024.

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai. For the earlier report on the Asian Marathon Championships 2024, please click on this link:https://shyamgopan.com/2024/01/21/indias-mansingh-clinches-gold-at-the-2024-asian-marathon-championships/)