World Athletics Championships: Avinash Sable, Shaili Singh, triple jumpers fail to qualify for finals

India endured a disappointing opening day at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday. Avinash Sable, Praveen Chithravel, Eldhose Paul, and Abdulla Aboobacker failed to qualify for their respective events.

On a stormy day in Budapest, Hungary, the events were pushed back and rescheduled. Sable, who had won a silver medal at the 2019 Asian Championships and the 2022 Commonwealth Games, finished a disappointing seventh in men’s 3000m steeplechase with a timing of 8 minutes and 22.24 seconds.

National record holder Sable started well and took the lead at the 2300 metre mark but a tumble in the last water hurdle proved to be his undoing. With only the top five finishers in the three heats progressing, Sable didn’t progress.

In a tactical race India’s Avinash Sable failed to progress to medal round. He clocks 8:22.24 in heats to finish 7th.#WorldAthleticsChamps https://t.co/UYBEYJCm3k

— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) August 19, 2023

This is the first time that Sable has failed to qualify for the World Athletics Championships finals in three appearances. He finished 11th in Eugene last year and 13th in Doha in 2019.

Meanwhile, Shaili Singh’s – long jump protege of legendary athlete Anju Bobby George – best effort of 6.40m didn’t see her progress either. By finishing 14th out of 18 competing athletes in the Group B qualification round, the 19-year-old missed out on qualifying for the finals. She eventually finished 24th across the field with athletes posting 6.80m-plus qualifying directly.

In the men’s 20km walk, national record holder Akashdeep Singh finished last (47th) with timing of 1 hour 31 minutes and 12 seconds. His national record stands at 1:19.55 seconds.

Other two Indian athletes in the men’s walk event, Vikash Singh finished 28th and Paramjit Singh 35th.

India’s disappointment continued in the evening session. Triple jumpers Praveen Chithravel, Eldhose Paul, and Abdulla Aboobacker failed to qualify for the finals.

With the qualification standard set at 17.15m, or the 12 best performers across the field, Abdulla came closest to progressing as he finished 15th with a jump of 16.61m.

Chithravel ended 20th with a best effort of 16.38m and Paul, on the other hand, failed to cross the 16m mark with a best of 15.59m. Eldhose’s season-best effort stood at 16.75m making this a poor showing for the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

In the 1500m heats, Ajay Kumar Saroj recorded a personal best timing of 3:38.24 seconds but was unable to qualify for the final after finishing 13th.