In marathon, India's Asian champion Gopi Thonakal has qualified for the World Athletics Championships to be held in the Qatari capital Doha in September-October this year. He achieved qualification after finishing 11th in the Seoul International Marathon yesterday, clocking his personal best time of 2 hours 13 minutes 39 seconds.
 
The Seoul International Marathon is a world class IAAF Gold label event. Gopi's time was the second best ever by an Indian after the four-decade old national record of 2 hours 12 minutes, held by Shivnath Singh. Gopi also bettered the World Championships qualification mark of 2 hrs. and 16 minutes.