Commonwealth Games: Avinash Sable and Priyanka Goswami claim silver medals for India in athletics-Sports News , Firstpost

Abraham Kibiwot, of Kenya (right) leads Avinash Mukund Sable. Sable became the first Non-Kenyan in six CWG editions to finish in top 3. AP

India’s star distance runner Avinash Sable has brought more track and field glory to India, winning a silver medal in the 3000m steeplechase event at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games on Saturday. This came right after racewalker Priyanka Goswami claimed silver medal in women’s 10km racewalk.

With these two honours, the track and field medal count soared to four medals at CWG 2022 as Murali Sreeshankar (silver in long jump) and Tejaswin Shankar (bronze in high jump) earlier shone in Birmingham.

Commonwealth Games: India schedule, Results, Medals tally

Sable clocked a time of 8.11.20 minutes at the Alexander Stadium which is also the national record as well as his personal best.

In another amazing feat, Sable is the first non-Kenyan in the last six editions of the Games to finish on the podium.

Sable was chasing the leaders for more than half of the race as he was placed fourth at the 1000m as well as 2000m mark.

It was a smart move and an interesting strategy as he remained around the corner and saved his energy to accelerate towards the final 1000m.

Kenya’s Conseslus Kipruto who maintained 2^nd position for the first 2000m, couldn’t maintain his position in the final 1000m and finished sixth.

However, his compatriot Abraham Kibiwot finished first after taking an early lead and maintaining it throughout. He finished with a timing of 8.11.15, which marked a difference of 5 microseconds from India’s silver winner Sable.

While Kibiwot won the gold, another Kenya athlete Amos Serem won the bronze medal with a timing of 8.16.83 minutes.

Goswami clocks personal best

Meanwhile, Olympian Goswami clocked her personal best (49 minutes and 38 seconds) to finish second in the 10,000m race walk to become the first Indian woman to win a race walking medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Goswami took quick lead at the first blow of the whistle and maintained it to come first after the 4000m (4km) mark. However, she fell behind Australia’s Jemima Montag and Kenya’s Emily Wamusyi Ngii with six kilometres yet to be covered and after the end of 8km, the 26-year-old Indian athlete had slipped to third.

But, a last-minute dash with 2 km to go helped Goswami regain the advantage as she overtook Ngii to finish second, while Montag clinched gold clocking 42:38.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.