SHILLONG, JAN 20: Meghalaya lad Beningstar Lyngkhoi was the best Indian finisher among men in the 10th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon in Mumbai on Sunday. He clocked 2:21:51 hrs in the grueling 42.2 kilo km race, taking home a cash prize of Rs 4.5lakh.
His timing, however, was below his previous best of 2 hours and 18 minutes. Ashish Singh was placed second at 2:23:05 and Elam Singh came third with a time of 2:23:09. Incidentally, Lyngkhoi had topped the Indian marathoners in the 2010 and 20122 editions of the country’s most prestigious marathon event.
Talking to ohmeghalaya.com over phone from Mumbai, Lyngkhoi said: “I thank god for keeping me healthy and fit. I am satisfied with the result but not with my timing”. The young man from Sakwang village in West Khasi Hills district is a serving army man and the only athlete from Meghalaya to have participated in various national and international marathon meets. He, however, had failed to qualify for last year’s Olympics.
“I am happy today at regaining the title. I will try to improve my timing next year and achieve the jackpot,” he said. Lyngkhoi would have been richer by another Rs 1 lakh had managed to better the best timing recorded in the event by an Indian. “I had planned to break the course record, but that did not happen. I was slow till 21 km and then caught up with them (Elam and Ashish) at 30 km. After 32 kms, I got ahead of them,” he added. (By Our Reporter)
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