Toughened by the inhospitable conditions in Siachen where temperatures can go 60 degrees below freezing, hardened in the arid and searing environment of North Western Rajasthan and driven by the resolve to “only compete with myself”, Army man Avinash Sable became the first Indian since 1952 to qualify for the Olympics in 3,000m steeplechase, at the World Championships in Doha on Friday.
The 25-year-old, who was recruited in the Army at 18 and was selected in the Ghatak platoon because of his “extraordinary fitness levels”, broke his national record in one of the most gruelling track races for the fourth time in a span of 12 months, clocking 8:21.37 seconds to breach the Tokyo Olympics qualifying time of 8:22.00 while finishing 13th in the final on a sultry Doha night.
The son of a farmer from Mandva village in the parched Beed district of Maharashtra first came into national prominence when he broke the second oldest Indian athletics record of 8:30.88 seconds, set by Gopal Saini in the 1981 Tokyo Asian Championships, clocking 8:29.80 seconds at the Open Nationals at Bhubaneswar in September last year.
Sable, who was convinced by Services distance-running coach Amrish Kumar in January 2017 to leave his favourite cross-country event and focus on steeplechase, went on a national record-breaking spree.
“It (switching event) was a challenging task and he was warned but it was the turning point of his career,” said Kumar. Sable improved it to 8:28.94 at the Federation Cup in Patiala in March. On Tuesday, Sable bettered it in the heats, clocking 8:25.23 seconds, and raised the bar with a timing of 8:21.37 in the final.
An improvement of almost eight-and-a-half seconds in a year is unheard of in Indian athletics but Col Rakesh Kumar Yadav, Commandant, Army Sports Institute (Pune), where Sable has been training for two years now, says, “Sable is extremely fit. Though he was recruited as a soldier in the general category, he got selected in the Ghatak Platoon, which recruits only the fittest and the best marksmen. The platoon is generally posted in key border areas,” said Yadav.
“He was recruited in 5 Mahar Regiment in December 2012. He was posted at Siachen (2013-14) and the arid regions of North Western Rajasthan in 2015. (But) since we give tall personnel a chance to take part in sports, Sable was spotted and started receiving training in cross-country. He made rapid strides and was selected in the Services team in 2015.”
Sable’s entry into the Worlds final was as dramatic as the turn of events in his life. He initially failed to make the cut in the heats but was included after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) protested that he had been obstructed by an Ethiopian runner in the race. The referee, after examining the video footage, concluded Sable had been “significantly obstructed on two occasions” and he was included for the final.
“Yes, I was disheartened and upset, but AFI lodged a protest and I was given the wild card to race in the medal round,” said Sable.
“My early life was tough. After school, which was 6-7 km away, I used to run home to help my father till a small piece of land. I knew nothing about running; it was after joining the Army that I took up cross-country and that habit of running across fields on the way home helped,” said Sable.
Teacher’s prediction
In Mandva, a village of just around 1,500 people, a teacher of its zilla parishad school who watched him run daily from home to school and back, knew the boy would one day make a big noise. Chandrakant Mutkule, Sable’s friend and school-mate, recalled, “Wadkar Sir used to take Avinash to district-level competitions. One day he told him in front of us, ‘You will make your village, district, state, country and your parents proud. Never forget this’.”
It made Sable even more determined to ease the suffering of his parents, Mukund and Vaishali.
“The condition in his house was very bad. And here, because it doesn’t rain a lot, they often struggle to generate enough income,” Mutkule, a bus driver, said. “Avinash’s childhood might have gone in poverty, but he kept telling his parents he will do something big in running, though they had no idea what their son was planning to do. However, he was a stubborn child.”
On Friday, though Kenya’s Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto—who defended his title clocking 8:01.35 seconds—was more than 20 seconds faster than him, Sable was not overly concerned.
“My main goal was to compete with myself and win an Olympic berth. I didn’t panic and ran at a very conservative pace of 2 minutes 39 seconds for the first 1000 metres. I knew the early pace would be too hot for me—the leading runners covered the first 1000 metres in 2:30 seconds,” said Sable.
Col Yadav said Sable will still need to drastically improve his timing if he wants to be in podium contention in Tokyo. “The world’s best are close to eight minutes, our boy is running 8:21. He still needs to clip 20 seconds to be ready for the real battle next July,” said Yadav.
But coach Kumar sounded confident. “Sable is regularly doing 8:18 in training. He has this quality of increasing his speed after crossing a hurdle, which is why he has made rapid progress. He has also been active on the domestic road-racing circuit, which has helped him build endurance. He has amazing recovery time. He can do 3-4 repetitions of 1000m in 2:29 with a minimum recovery time of two minutes. In hurdles, he is clocking 2:38 seconds.”
This gift of quick recovery maybe the reason he bounced back from a serious ankle injury last year. “His first half of 2018 was hampered by an ankle injury and he failed to qualify for the Jakarta Asian Games after clocking 8:49.67 seconds and finishing fourth at the Inter-State meet in Guwahati in July, 2018. But he was so determined he won silver in the Asian Championships in April, clocking 8:30.19. He never got international exposure and ran just three races, all domestic, to prepare for Doha. There were plans to compete in the Shanghai Diamond League in May and the European circuit in August, but it never materialised,” said Kumar.
Sable’s next stop will be the World Military Games at Wuhan, China starting October 18.
“I hope I make more progress there,’ said Sable from Doha.
Like his country, Sable’s mission also has targets for his home. “Avinash sends them money and their house has changed. It is a lot better. His parents still stay there because that’s where their life and livelihood is. Avinash comes here whenever he gets time,” Mutkule said.
Mutkule and friends are planning a reception when Sable reaches Mandva in a few days.
“A boy from Mandva will represent India at the Olympics. What more do we need?” he said.
First Published:
Oct 06, 2019 07:40 IST
Source: HindustanTimes