Neeraj Chopra, Avinash Sable only Indians in action in Diamond League Final on September 13 and 14

Hyderabad: India’s Neeraj Chopra and Avinash Sable will be in action in the Diamond League final in Brussels. The Diamond League final will be held on Friday, September 13 and Saturday, September 14.

Neeraj Chopra finished fourth in the overall standings to qualify for the final while although Sable finished 14th in the standings, he made it to the 12-member race after four athletes, who were ranked higher than Sable, couldn’t make it to the final due to injuries.

This will be Sable’s maiden Diamond League final appearance.

Sable, the Asian Games gold medalist, participated in two Diamond League meets – Paris Diamond League and the Silesia Diamond League. He finished sixth in Paris and 14th in Silesia.

He has three Diamond League points and finished 14th in the overall standings but injuries to Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia, Geordie Beamish of New Zealand, Ryuji Mura of Japan and Hillary Bor of the the USA meant Sable finished in the top-12 to qualify for the final.

The Diamond League final will be a two-day event. The men’s 3000m steeplechase event will be run on September 13 while the javelin throw event will be on September 14.

Meanwhile, Neeraj will be gunning to win his third Diamond League medal after finishing second at the Doha Diamond League and the Lausanne Diamond League.

Neeraj threw 88.36m in Doha and 89.49 in Lausanne and both throws earned him second place finishes.

Neeraj won the silver medal at the Paris Olympics with a throw of 89.45m. Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan won the gold medal with a throw of 92.97m while Anderson Peters of Grenada won the bronze after sending the javelin to a distance of 88.54m.

The 29-year-old Sable, competing in his first Olympics, finished 11th at the Paris Olympics 2024 with a time of 8:14.18. He scripted history by becoming the first Indian to compete in the Olympics final in the men’s 3000m steeplechase event.

Entry list of javelin throw: Neeraj Chopra (India), Timothy Herman (Belgium), Artut Felfner (Ukraine), Genki Rodrick Dean (Japan) Jakub Vadlejch (Czechia), Julian Weber (Germany), Andrian Mardare (Moldova) and Andersen Peters (Grenada).

Entry list of 3000m steeplechase: Avinash Sable (India), Abraham Kibiwot (Kenya), Abraham Sime (Ethiopia), Daniel Arce (Spain), Abderrafia Bouassel (Morocco), Soufiane Bakkali(Morocco), Samuel Firewu (Ethiopia), Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui (Tunisia), Wilberforce Chemiat Kones (Kenya), Mohamed Tindouft (Morocco), and Getnet Wale (Ethiopia).