BENGALURU: It has been around four days since India athlete Avinash Sable resumed his Olympic preparations at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru. The man from Maharashtra, who has qualified for 3000m steeplechase in the Tokyo Olympics, had tested positive for Covid-19 last month, and was thus in isolation.
However, during his quarantine period, with no outdoor activities allowed, he spent his time doing some exercises to maintain his fitness inside the room and coach Amrish Kumar was in constant touch with him over the phone as well.
With Sable having qualified for the quadrennial event in October 2019, the athlete, ever since, has been putting in a lot of hours of training with an eye on Tokyo. In that regard, the isolation period should not come as a huge setback.
“He has been training regularly (before he tested positive), so his base has always been quite strong. As of now, the focus is on technique in the hurdle and other things in training. In these two months, leading up to the Olympics, you cannot make major changes in your game, but you can definitely ensure that the athlete is in the best shape for the Olympics,” Kumar told this daily.
However, the ongoing pandemic has hurt Tokyo-bound Indian athletes quite badly. Though their training did not completely stop in the last 18 months or so, they could not feature in many competitions and gauge where they stand. In the limited opportunities they got, some of them, including Sable, impressed in domestic competitions.
One of the highlights of Sable’s career has been his constant improvement in timings. From 8:29.80 in the Indian Open (2018) to 8:21.37 at the Worlds (2019) to 8:20.20 – a national record — in the Federation Cup this year, his upward climb is there for all to see. On the downside, he did not participate in a single top event in the 3000m steeplechase in 2020, but featured in two meets this year before the second wave created havoc in the country.
As a result, several nations put restrictions on travel from India. With it, overseas training or participating in international competitions look less likely for elite athletes as of now. Even Sable’s high altitude training camp of 100 days in Uganda, scheduled from the second week of April, did not take shape. Despite all these factors, Kumar remains confident of a good show.
“His timing is only going to improve in the Olympics. He is someone who is not short of confidence. I am sure that in Tokyo, he will run at around 8:15. His capacity is such that he can even run 8:10, but there is competition pressure and all, so he should be within 8:15 or 8:16. If all things go according to plan and he does his best and things favour us, he can do 8:10. But it is also about pressure. It is the biggest competition in the world for him,” said Kumar.