Athletics
Where Indians are placed in race to Diamond League Final
Avinash Sable, the 3000m steeplechaser, has become the third Indian to qualify for the DL Final on Saturday. He finished fifth in the Xiamen DL.
Avinash Sable in action (File Photo)
Only the top athletes in 16 events (32 across both genders) are eligible to compete in the Diamond League Final. This year, the Diamond League Final will take place in Eugene, the USA, on September 16 and 17.
According to the Diamond League rule, only the top six in the field events, the top eight for 100m-800m and the top ten for 1500m and long-distance events will qualify for the Final.
So far three Indian athletes - javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who is also the defending champion, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar and steeplechaser Avinash Sable - qualified for the prestigious event.
Neeraj, who has just won the gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, is currently ranked third in men's javelin throw in the Diamond League Standings.
The Indian athlete won the Doha and Lausanne Diamond League but lost the Zurich DL to Jakub Vadlejch earlier this week.
Neeraj now has 23 points, while Vadlejch and Julian Weber have 29 and 25 points, respectively.
Likewise, in the men's long jump, Sreeshankar is ranked third behind Olympic and Worlds gold medallist Miltiadis Tentoglou and Simon Ehammer with 14 points.
Sreeshankar finished fifth in the long jump event at Zurich DL with a best effort of 7.99m. At Paris and Lausanne DL, the Kerala athlete made a third and fifth-place finish.
Avinash Sable, the 3000m steeplechaser, made an impressive fifth-place finish in the Xiamen Diamond League and qualified for the DL Final as the sixth-ranked athlete. Sable on Saturday clocked 8:16.27s. The men's 3000m steeplechase event features ten athletes in the Final.
In the triple jump, Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Aboobacker finished fifth and sixth in the Xiamen DL. While both athletes improved their rankings, but could not break into the top six. Praveen is currently ranked seventh while Abdulla is 10th with seven and six points, respectively.
Ahead of Saturday's race, they were jointly ranked 11th with three points each.
No Indian woman qualified for the DL Final this year.
