With just a few days left for the Tokyo Olympics to begin, AIR News in its special series talks about Army Jawan Avinash Sable, who represented India in the steeplechase at the Olympics. 
 
Army Jawan Avinash Sable from Beed district of Maharashtra has won the national record five times in his career. He first participated in inter-army cross country in 2015 at the insistence of his colleagues, before moving to steeplechase under coach Amrish Kumar. Sable has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the men's 3000m steeplechase event. He qualified for the World Championships in 2018 itself by setting a national record. 

Then in the World Athletics held in Doha in 2019, in a time of eight minutes 26 seconds not only did he qualify for the Olympics, but also made history by reaching the final. He was the first Indian to reach the final of the event at the World Championships. 

In March, he improved his own record in a time of eight minutes twenty decimal twenty seconds, at Patiala. He will easily make his way to the final in Tokyo along with strong athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia.