Amid doubts and fear, Sable eyes CWG and Asian Games

India steeplechaser, recovering from an ACL surgery last July, is eyeing a return to competition at the Fed Cup next month

- Rutvick Mehta

Getnet Wale of Ethiopia (L) and Avinash Sable during the 3000m steeplechase at Paris Olympics.

(GETTY)

Running became second nature to Avinash Sable since he began dashing through his village's rocky roads and covering a distance of 6km to get to Mandava’s zilla parishad primary school from home.

And so, when he couldn't for a long while, a question often crossed his mind. “Jo cheez mujhe lagta tha kuch nahi hai (something that I would think is really easy for me), I found it so difficult,” said Sable. “I thought, how will I ever do this all over again?”

This was last year, a couple of months after India’s top steeplechaser had surgery for an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus injury on his right knee in July. Earlier that month, a nasty fall competing in the Monaco Diamond League sidelined him to a long, uncertain injury and rehab phase, the kind the 31-year-old had seldom experienced in his career.

“Many times, mein khud se haar jaata tha (I would lose the will),” Sable told HT. “I felt maybe it's too difficult, it won't be possible. Often, it would cross my mind that if I don’t get fit in time for this season - with the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and Asian Games -I will lose everything.”