Inter-state Athletics: Sable Sets Meet Record; Toor, Parul Too Win Gold Medals

State Senior Athletics Championships: Asian Games champion Avinash Sable set a new meet record on his way to a gold medal in men's 3000m steeplechase while top stars Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Parul Chaudhary won their respective events on the third day of the 63rd National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2024 on Saturday.

Sable set the pulse racing at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium, winning the gold medal by clocking 8:31.75, improving the previous meet record of 8:33.19 that he set in Lucknow back in 2019. The 29-year-old Army athlete from Maharashtra also holds the national record of 8:11.20. Sumit Kumar (8:46.93) won the silver while Shankar Swami (8:47.05) settled for bronze.

This was Sable’s second 3000m steeplechase of the season after finishing second at the Portland Track Festival athletics meet in the USA earlier this month. He is a silver medallist in the Commonwealth Games in a race dominated by the Africans.

In the men’s shot put, Tajinderpal Singh Toor won the gold medal with a best effort of 19.93m on his final attempt. Toor was expected to miss the Panchkula meet due to an ankle injury and seemed to be in discomfort after his event but decided to give it a try in an attempt to get the qualifying mark.

With the Inter-State meet being the final qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympics for the Indian athletes before the athletics qualifying window ends on June 30, the two-time Asian champion has failed to achieve the men’s shot put Olympic qualification mark of 21.50m in the qualifying period.

However, he is 25th in the Road to Paris rankings for men’s shot put. The top 32 eligible athletes on the Road of Paris rankings will obtain Olympic quotas when the qualification window and the ranking period ends on June 30.

Sarvesh Kushare (2.25m) beat Asian Games silver medallist Tejaswin Shankar (2.21m) in the men’s high jump event. He also matched the previous meet record at the Inter-State meet. Jesse Sandesh secured bronze with 2.18m.

Asian Games medallist Parul Chaudhary clinched the gold medal in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event after clocking 9:45.70.

Parul set the national record in this event after achieving a mark of 9:15.31 at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last year, breaching the Paris 2024 Olympics standard of 9:23.00 in the process.

Asian Games medallist Parul Chaudhary clinched the gold medal in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event after clocking 9:45.70.

In the men’s long jump, national record holder Jeswin Aldrin had to settle for a silver with a modest 7.75m attempt with Arya S. emerging as the surprise winner with a 7.78m effort. Aravinth E claimed the bronze with 7.73m, pushing former national champion Muhammed Anees Yahiya (7.64m) out of the podium spots.