Sarvesh Anil Kushare becomes first Indian to qualify for high jump final in World Athletics Championships

Tokyo: Sarvesh Anil Kushare on Sunday became the first Indian to qualify for high jump final at the World Athletics Championships while national record holder Gulveer Singh finished 16th in the 10,000m race with a below-par performance.

The 30-year-old Kushare, who made it to the showpiece at the 34th spot among 36 competing athletes through world ranking quota, scaled 2.25m to finish joint seventh in Group B of the qualification round. He ended at joint ninth in the overall rankings across two groups.

Those who touched the automatic qualifying mark of 2.30m or at least 12 best made it to the final round to be held on Tuesday.

Kushare has a personal best of 2.27m, which he had recorded way back in 2022, and a season best of 2.26m. He won a silver medal in the 2023 Asian Championships.

He has been a consistent performer throughout the season so far, having dipped below 2.19m only once out of 10 outings before Sunday.

Son of an onion farmer in a nondescript village near Nashik in Maharashtra, Sarvesh used to practice on fodder-made makeshift mats early in his career but went on to become the first Indian high jumper to qualify for the Olympics in the 2024 Paris Games.

He, though, had failed to get past the qualification round in the French capital last year.

In the men's 10,000m race, Gulveer could not make the final kick after remaining in the leading group of more than 10 runners till the last two rounds of the highly-competitive race.

The 27-year-old Indian ended the the race with a time of 29 minutes 13.33 seconds under humid conditions, well below his personal best of 27:00.22 which he had clocked in March.

The 10,000m race is not his Gulveer's strongest event though he holds the national record. He made it to the event in the World Championships at the last minute after athletes ranked above him pulled out.

He will run in his pet event of 5,000m on September 19. He also holds the national record in that event with a time of 12 minutes 59.77 seconds. He qualified for the 5000m event by breaching the direct qualifying time of 13:01.00.