By Vipul Kashyap

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], June 27 (ANI): Following the Asian Athletics Championship 2025 success at Gumi, South Korea, Olympian Avinash Sable said that he is now preparing himself for the upcoming World Championship, which will take place later this year in September.

Sable spoke to ANI at the newly opened Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru.

Speaking to ANI, Sable said, 'It's been 7-8 months since I took a break after the Olympics. I have focused on what I thought would be good in the Olympics. Right now, I am preparing for the World Championships in September. I have participated in 2-3 competitions this season. Right now, I am focusing on going to the main speed. I want to target the World Championships.'

During the Asian Athletics Championships 2025 at Gumi, Avinash Sable and Jyothi Yarraji secured the gold medal in the men's 3000 m steeplechase and women's 100 m hurdle events, respectively, while the Indian women's team also defended their 4x400m relay title, as per Olympics.com.

Sable, who secured the silver medal in the Asian Athletics Championships 2019, secured the gold six years later with a season's best timing of 8:20.92, with the rest of the podium completed by Japan's Yutaro Niinae (8:24.41) and Qatar's Zakaria Elahlaami (8:27.12).

The current Asian Games champion, Sable, is the first Indian to secure a 3000 m men's steeplechase gold at the Asian Athletics Championships after 36 years, with the first being the Arjuna Award recipient Deena Ram back in 1989.

Jyothi backed the second gold of the day, successfully defending her women's 100m hurdles title by clocking a new championship record time of 12.96 seconds. The second and third spots were taken by Japan's Yumi Tanaka and China's Wu Yanni with the times of 13.07 (.061) and 13.07(.068), respectively. (ANI)