Asian Athletics C’ships: Sable, Jyothi, women’s 4x400m relay team grab golds on Day 3
It was a golden day for India on Day 3 of the 26th Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea,…
Olympian and national record holder Avinash Sable endured a setback at the Monaco Diamond League, failing to complete the 3000m steeplechase after suffering a nasty fall early in the race. The 30-year-old, who has already qualified for the World Championships in Tokyo this September, was aiming for a top-5 finish but had to pull out due to injury.
Sable’s 2025 season continues to be below par, with 13th and 8th place finishes in his previous Diamond League outings.
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Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali won the steeplechase in 8:01.18, ahead of Japan’s Ryuji Miura (8:03.43) and Kenya’s Edmund Serim (8:04.00).
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Meanwhile, 22-year-old sprint sensation Animesh Kujur impressed once again, finishing a commendable fourth in the Under-23 200m event. Kujur clocked 20.55 seconds, competing against a world-class field led by Australia’s teen star Gout Gout, who won with 20.10s. Botswana’s Busang Collen Kebinathshipi (20.28s) and South Africa’s Naeem Jack (20.42s) rounded off the podium.
Kujur, who recently broke the Indian national 100m record with a 10.18s dash in Greece, also holds the 200m national record (20.32s). Earlier this year in Geneva, he clocked a staggering 20.27s — the fastest ever by an Indian over the distance.
Hailing from a tribal village in Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur district, Kujur now eyes the 20.16s qualification mark for the World Championships and has set his sights on breaching the 10-second barrier in the 100m.
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