The marathon started from the Bangabandhu Stadium and ended at the Sena Kunja early in the morning. Rajendra clocked 1 hour 59 minutes 47 seconds while Sri Lankan Ajith Banara Adikari completed it in 2 hours 12 seconds. Indian Ram Singh finished it in 2 hours 23 seconds while Nepal´s Arjun Bahadur Basnet clocked 2 hours 2 minutes 12 seconds. [break]
According to this timing, all the four marathoners beat the world record of 2 hours 3 minutes 59 seconds set by Haile Gabrselassie in Berlin marathon. However, technical committee later discovered that the distance, which should have been 42.195 km, was shorter by 5 kilometers.
Nevertheless, Rajendra was awarded gold and the Sri Lankan and the Indian were decorated with silver and bronze respectively.
This is the fifth gold won by a Nepali runner in SAG marathon. Earlier, Baikuntha Manandhar had won three consecutive gold medals in the first, second and third SAG.
Rajendra Bhandari completes the race.Dipesh Shrestha
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Manandhar had set SAG record in marathon. He had completed the race in 2 hours 15 minutes 3 seconds in the Third SAG held in Kolkata in 1987.
Tika Bogati had won the last gold medal from marathon for Nepal in the Seventh SAG held in Madras in 1995.
Rajendra had won two gold medals in the 10th SAG Colombo in 3,000 m steeplechase and 5,000m race in 2006. However, both his medals were scrapped after he failed doping test.
Rajendra was in Dhaka to make up for the dishonor he earned in the last edition, and he succeeded. However, controversy and mismanagement eclipsed his athleticism and fighting attitude.
“It was a fight for personal honor and I succeeded,” said Rajendra. He also expressed his joy in successfully completing his mission of winning gold in Dhaka.
“This is a new beginning and I have to do a lot more for my country,” said Rajendra.
Along with the gold won by Rajendra, Nepal have bagged 8 gold, 9 silver and 20 bronze medals in Dhaka.