New Delhi: Army Man Binning Lyngkhoi from Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh’s Sukanya Mall added second Mawana Sugars Indian Open Marathon titles to their list, as they beat a strong field in both sections to emerge winners here on Sunday.
Both Lyngkhoi and Sukanya received Rs. 2.5 lakhs each and Mawana sugar cubes equivalent to their weight.
The 25-year-old Lyngkhoi, who trained in Army Institute in Pune, won the marathon in two hours 18 minutes 49 seconds, which was just outside the London Olympics ‘B’ qualifying mark of 2:18.
Lyngkhoi’s earlier win in the Mawana Sugars marathon came in 2008 edition. Sukanya’s first win in the marathon came in 2010.
The race was flagged off from India Gate by P T Usha, one of the greatest of Indian women athletes, and Praveen Kumar, a former Asian Games discus throw medalist. The marathon witnessed more than 9,000 starters in various categories and distances.
Lyngkhoi, who won a marathon in Mumbai in mid-January, made it two wins in two months. However, he finished more than a minute clear of second placed Arvind Kumar Yadav, who clocked 2:20:02 and in the third place was another Army Man, Oinam Singh 2:20:11.
Like Lyngkhoi, it was also Sukanya’s second win in Mawana Marathon. The 20-year-old from Deoria, who has won numerous road races, grabbed the women’s title in 2:48:25, but she also missed out on the Olympic ‘B’ qualifying mark of 2:43.
Just as it happened in 2010, it was once again L Preet Rao in the second place in 2:56:05 and Anisha Devi was third in 2:59:04.
The marathon is one of the numerous events we sponsor an support at the National level. We have also supported women’s golf at the amateur level and we wish to ensure that we provide more opportunities to women sportspersons too,” he said.
Multiple gold medalist at Asian Games, P T Usha, said, “It is great that distance runners, who have to put in a lot of hard work are getting such good prizes. This will help them in training and also motivate them to give even better performances.” The event was conducted by the officials of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and the Delhi State Athletics Association. (PTI)