Manisha Salunkhe to skip Mumbai Marathon for Lusofonia Games

Manisha Salunkhe, who was scheduled to make her 42 km marathon debut at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon has pulled out of the event to compete in the upcoming Lusofonia Games, to be held in Goa from 18th to 29th Januray.

Manisha had finished fourth in last year’s half marathon, but will now compete in the 10,000m race, which will take place on the 27th of January, and has cited a shortage of recovery time for pulling out of the $360,000 Mumbai Marthon.

“I wanted to run the full marathon in Mumbai but as there are more chances of winning in Goa I decided to give SCMM a miss. SCMM meant bigger prize money but I can achieve bigger glory at Lusofonia,” Manisha said on Wednesday.

“Also, there’s less than a week between the two events, so I won’t be able to recover in time for the 10000m race,” she added.

The Asian Cross Country Championship in Korea, which will be held on 22nd February, is also on the mind of the 23-year old girl from Sangli, as she has qualified for it.

“I have made the grade for the Korea event. If I go for a longer distance, my timing will be badly hit. As there is a chance for me to earn a medal there I have just stopped thinking about marathons for the time being. I always took part in track events but Bhaskar (Bhosle) sir inspired me to take up long-distance running,” said the Central Railway employee at Pune.