National record-holder Avinash Sable on Thursday became the first Indian man in 36 years to win a gold medal in 3000m steeplechase event of the Asian Athletics Championships after producing the season’s best performance.
Sable clocked 8:20.92sec to claim the top honour, which is also his second Asian medal after a silver in the 2019 edition. The last time India won a gold in this event was way back in 1989 when Dina Ram finished on top. Harbel Singh was the first Indian to win a men’s steeplechase gold at the showpiece back in 1975.
Sable lived up to the favourite tag with some ease to consolidate the country’s position in the 26th edition of the continental tournament. Japan’s Yutaro Niinae, who clinched the silver with 8:24.41sec, was leading at the start of the final lap but the Indian ace produced a brilliant effort to go past him and claim the top prize.
The Hangzhou Asian Games gold-medallist continued to stay ahead of the pack with four laps to go, but he had two Japanese athletes following him closely. Niinae overtook Sable with three laps remaining, but the Indian had the last laugh. Qatar’s Zakaria Elahlaami took the bronze after clocking 8:27.12sec.
In the women’s 10,000m final, India’s Sanjeevani Jadhav clocked a season’s best of 33:08.17sec, finishing fifth, followed closely by Seema in sixth at 33:08.23sec. The event was dominated by Daisy Jepkemei of Kazakhstan (30:48.44), ahead of Japan’s Ririrak Hironika (30:56.32) and Mikuni Yada (31:12.21).
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