Mumbai: Sudha Singh was beaming as she walked into the conference room. She had good reasons to do so, as she had hit a jackpot (hat-trick) in the Tata Mumbai Marathon. This day will be etched in her mind for long, as she made it three in one go: Winning the Indian women title, setting a course record and qualifying for the world championship in Doha. “Yes, it is a special day for me as I came with a goal to qualify for the world championship, but it turned out to be something much more,” said Sudha who erased the course record with her time of 2:34:56 while the cut out time for the world contest was 2:37.00. The Asian Games medallist, Sudha, who hails from Rae Bareli, was given an officer’s job recently by the UP Government; she had worked for Central Railways in Mumbai since 2005. She attained women’s qualifying mark for this year’s world championship in Doha, even as she set a personal best while finishing a creditable eighth overall, well under the qualifying mark of 2:37:00 set by IAAF for the September-October Doha World Championship.
Sudha is a 3000m steeplechase specialist and winner of gold and silver medals in the 2010 and 2018 Asian Games. She finished just ahead of former champion Dinkesh Mekash of Ethiopia who was in 9th spot with timing of 2:36:31. Her earlier personal best in the marathon was 2:35:35 that she clocked while finishing 19th in the 2015 Beijing World championships. She also bettered the national course record of 2:37:29, which previously stood in the name of O P Jaisha since 2015. “I had not thought about 2.34, so I am very happy with the performance,” said the athlete, who was training with her pace maker Vicky Tomar who is also a steeplechaser. “I was training with the pace maker for two months and hence things were set. The weather was good. My target was to complete below 2 hours 37 minutes. I just want to thank my coach,” she added.
