Three of India’s premier marathon runners — Kartik Karkera, Gopi Thonakal and Man Singh — have all punched their tickets for the 2026 Asian Games.Kartik, Gopi and Man all completed the 42.2 kilometres well under the qualifying standard of 2 hours 15 minutes and 4 seconds set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) as they romped to the podium of the New Delhi Marathon on Sunday.Kartik completed the race in 2:13:10 to win the hotly contested gold medal. The 28-year-old doctor had to see off a final sprint from both Gopi (2:13:12) and Man (2:13:15) as all three crossed the finish line within a few breaths of each other. The Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Japan in September.However, things panned out differently for the Indian women runners as they fell way short of the 2:31:52 qualifying mark. Thakor Nirmaben (2:41:15) left Bhagirathi (2:43:28) and Ashwini Jadhav (2:56:59) in her trail to win the gold medal.Early on Sunday, Olympics medallist Vijender Singh and tennis star Rohan Bopanna flagged off the key races in the morning.In the other races, Kuldip Kumar (1:08:51) and Genet Shikur Reshid (1:19:36) won the half-marathons. Ravi Bumbak (1:09:33) and Mohmmad Sahil Anigeri (1:09:41) took the next two positions among men as did Ekta (1:19:39) and Priti Lamva (1:19:59) among women.