Indian women's second placed Shyamali Singh, who ran with a chest tumour at the Mumbai Marathon, will use the Rs 4 lakh reward money for her treatment
Shyamali Singh
Shyamali Singh, dedicating her victory to her husband Santosh
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With money on her mind and health woes adding to the big race day stress, West Bengal's Shyamali Sing stood atop the Mumbai Marathon podium on yesterday morning, after searing the full marathon course (42-km) and posting a time of (3:08:41), to notch second place in the Indian women's section.
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Shyamali Singh with her husband Santosh at the 2017 Mumbai Marathon yesterday. Pic/Noel D'Souza
Shyamali (24) hails from the interiors of Midnapore. This deceptively fragile athlete has been recently diagnosed with a breast tumor. Despite what she said was her "personal problem," she came second after winner Jyoti Gawte (02:50:53) in the Indian Elite women's full marathon.
Ladakh girl tops
Ladakh girl Jigmet Dolma, who ran in the elite category for the first time, finished third, clocking 03:14:38.
Sing was running against doctor's advice. She needs funds to get the tumor operated. Now, thanks to the R4 lakh prize money, the 24-year-old will use that to get herself operated. "I wasn't fully prepared for the marathon due to my illness, but I was confident that I could finish with a decent timing. With just 10-15 days of light training, coming second is a huge thing. I was assailed my self-doubt during the course, but kept motivating myself that if I wanted to get operated, I need to do well. With the prize money, now I can get the operation done and then rest for sometime before training for the next marathon," said Sing.
Hubby, her sole support
Sing said her sole support is husband Santosh, who has taken a loan and bought a truck. The vehicle is used to supply materials from one place to another in Midnapore. A fledging venture, the couple simply did not have the funds to treat Sing. Now, of course, they do. Sing said: "If not for Santosh's support, I wouldn't have been able to continue to run. He stopped his long distance running training and started earning a living, so that I could live my dream. My parents are against me being a marathon runner."
Santosh added, "I come from a lower middle class background. Her family did not approve of our marriage as she is a Bengali and I am a Rajput. We are struggling to make both ends meet. I was a 5000m runner, but post our marriage in 2014, we couldn't afford the expenses of the sport. So, we decided that I will work and she will run. For her family, running marathon wearing knickers (shorts) is not a respectable thing to do for a girl, leave aside a married woman. I know that we took a huge risk by letting her run in such a condition, but only we know how difficult the decision was. Now the first thing I want to do is get the operation done so that she is free from tumor."
Sing may have taken second place in the race, but she takes top honours for battling against adversity and displaying the courage that soul-stirring marathon stories are made of.
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