Sports
After an official protest was lodged by India, Avinash Sable has been included in the final of the men's 3000m Steeplechase at the IAAF World Athletics Championships, the Athletics Federation of India tweeted.
Updated : Oct 02, 2019, 10:16 AM IST | Edited by : Karen Noronha
After an official protest was lodged by India, Avinash Sable has been included in the final of the men's 3000m Steeplechase at the IAAF World Athletics Championships, the Athletics Federation of India tweeted.
Avinash included in finals after India's successful appeal@kaypeem @StanByMe28 @rahuldpawar @BhutaniRahul
— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) October 1, 2019
Sable broke his own national record and finished 7th in the third heat but could not finish higher after he fell twice during the race for no fault of his own.
Both the falls were triggered by reigning junior world champion Takele Nigate of Ethiopia. The 24-year-old Indian clocked 8 minutes 25.23 seconds to finish 20th overall out of 44 athletes who completed the race.
Sable had to jump over another competitor as four-five athletes had fallen over each other.
Sable then made an impressive recovery towards the end but it was not enough for a place in the final on a track where he had won a silver in April in the Asian Championships with a time of 8:30.19.
The Athletics Federation of India later filed an appeal, saying that Sable was blocked twice during the race, and he got a favourable decision.
This was the incident which broke Avinash Sable’s race momentum & as a results of Indian team protest now Avinash has been added in to the Start list of Men’s 3000m steeplechase final of #WorldAthleticChamps at Doha. First ever Indian Male athlete to run in Individual Track final pic.twitter.com/fBI1G2rUu8
— Rahul PAWAR (@rahuldpawar) October 1, 2019
"We filed an appeal and we have got a favourable decision. So, Avinash will be in the final, he has been included among the finalists," AFI Planning Commission Chairman Lalit Bhanot told PTI.
The world governing body IAAF also confirmed Avinash's qualification. Sable is also the first male steeplechaser from India to qualify for the World Championships since Deena Ram (1991).
There is no change in sable's position but he has been added as the 16th competitor. The top three in each of the three heats and the next six fastest qualify for the final race.
India's successful appeal means Sable has become the first athlete from the country to qualify for the Steeplechase final.
His earlier national record was 8:28.94 in March 2019 during the Federation Cup.