India's star athletes Neeraj Chopra and Avinash Sable have been excluded from the upcoming Asian Athletics Championships in a bid to keep them fresh for the World Athletics Championships later this year.
The 2023 Asian Athletics Championships will be held from July 12-16 in Pattaya, Thailand and will serve as a qualifier for the world event, which will be staged in Budapest, Hungary in August.
“Neeraj Chopra and steeplechase specialist Avinash Sable will be excluded from the Indian contingent to compete in the next month’s Asian Athletics Championships as the main focus is the world championship,” India's chief national athletics coach Radhakrishnan Nair told reporters on Wednesday.
Tokyo Olympic gold-medalist Chopra is returning to action after suffering from a muscle strain he sustained during training last month. India's ace javelin thrower started his season by winning the Doha Diamond League in May, but since then has been sidelined with injury.
“We are in touch with Neeraj and other athletes who are overseas. Now, Neeraj recovered from his injury and started his regular practice from this Monday onwards in Switzerland," Nair added.
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Sable currently holds the Indian national records in 3000m steeplechase (8:11.20 at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to win silver), 5000m (13:19.30 at the Sound Running On Track Fest 2023 in LA) and the half-marathon (1:00:30 at the Delhi Half-Marathon in 2022).
Avinash Sable improves his national 5000m record during a track meet in Los Angeles. He clocks 13:19.30. His previous best was 13:25.65. pic.twitter.com/hOrkKlghZO
— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) May 7, 2023
The athlete from Maharashtra's drought-prone Beed district sealed his 2023 World Athletics Championship berth with the silver medal-finish at the 2022 CWG, as he went under the qualifying mark of 8:15.00.
Along with coach Scott Simons,Sable will train in St Moritz, Switzerland from August 7-16, before heading to the World Championships.
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