File image of Avinash Sable© AFP
National record holder 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable will run in his maiden Diamond League Final in Brussels, joining star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra in the season-ending event, as he is listed among 12 participants for the winner-takes-all race on Friday. Sable finished 14th in the overall Diamond League standings with three points he garnered from two meetings. But four athletes ranked higher than him — Lamecha Girma (injured) of Ethiopia, Geordie Beamish of New Zealand, Ryuji Mura of Japan and Hillary Bor of the USA — are not taking part in the final.
The season finale will be a two-day affair on September 13 and 14. The men’s 3000m steeplechase is scheduled for September 13 while the men’s javelin throw event will he held the next day.
Five meetings out of the 14 in the DL series across the world this season had men’s 3000m steeplechase event.
The 29-year-old Sable had finished sixth with a national record time of 8:09.91 — bettering his own earlier mark — in the Paris leg of the Diamond League on July 7. He was 14th at the Silesia leg with a time of 8:29.96 on August 25.
He had finished a disappointing 11th at the Paris Games on August 7 with a time of 8:14.18 after becoming the first Indian to enter Olympics final in men’s 3000m steeplechase.
Two-time Olympic medal winner Chopra qualified for the DL final after finishing fourth in the overall standings.
Chopra accumulated 14 points from his two second-place finishes in the one-day meets held in Doha and Lausanne.
Each Diamond League season finale champion is awarded a prestigious ‘Diamond Trophy’, USD 30,000 prize money and a wild card for the World Athletics Championships.
The runner-up will get USD 12,000 and so on till the eight-place finisher who will pocket USD 1000.
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