Athletics Association of Maldives has appointed experienced marathon runner Nasrullah Ahmed as the coach of the Maldivian team participating in the Dhaka Marathon set to be held next week in Bangladesh.

The 2 athletes that will be representing Maldives in this marathon are Mohamed Rasheed (Mode) and Aishath Rishmy. Previously, even Ahmed Sharaf was also set to participate in the marathon.

Athletics Association’s General Secretary Ahmed Munthaqim stated that Sharaf’s name was removed from the list due to a change in the Dhaka Marathon’s guidelines. Due to Covid-19, Bangladesh decided to remove the Half Marathon category from the event.

“This was done to reduce the number of participants due to Covid-19.” Said Munthaqim. “Full Marathon will be the only category in the Dhaka Marathon. Sharaf is already participating in a marathon in Sri Lanka on this month’s 22nd. It is not safe to run a full marathon and run another marathon in such a short time, that’s why Sharaf was removed from the Dhaka Marathon.”

Nasru will participate in the South Asian Cross Country Championship’s coaching team in this month’s 15 in India. He will be partnered with experienced coach Abdullah Ibrahim (Ablho). The athletes participating in this challenging race that has to be done in secluded and grassy areas are Mohamed Irufaan, Hussain Fazeel Haaroon (Flash), Yoosuf Ibrahim, Ibrahim Adam, Abidh Ahmed Siraaj, and Shaihaan Mohamed.

Nasru is the Maldivian athlete that has run the most marathons. He had participated in 78 marathons up to now. Nasru is also included in the list of people who have run the most marathons in South Asia as well. His most special year in marathons was 2018. He had run 13 marathons in that year alone. He had completed all of these marathons in less than 4 hours. Nasru had completed 12 marathons in 2021. 

Even though he had previously planned to run in an upcoming marathon in Bangalore, he decided to cancel that plan due to the opportunity he got from the Maldives National Team.