BENGALURU: For 14 months, Avinash Sable has been fighting a battle that has had little to do with the stopwatch. At the Monaco Diamond League in July last year, the 2023 Asian Games steeplechase champion stumbled over the water jump after a competitor ahead of him lost balance. Sable went down too, limped off the track and into the longest injury layoff of his career.Surgery for a torn ACL and meniscus forced the 31-year-old to miss the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and begin the long, often lonely grind to recovery. There was high-altitude training in Ooty, a stint at the Inspire Institute of Sport in Bellary and, more recently, preparation at the SAI South Centre in Bengaluru.“The past year was very difficult for me because since my steeplechase debut in 2017, this is the longest I’ve stayed away from competition,” Sable said.The Monaco injury was particularly cruel because it came when he was in the form of his life. In May last year, Sable had won gold at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, clocking a season-best 8:20.92. “That medal gave me the confidence to aim higher. During the period when I won the Asian medal, my fitness was at its best. So, I thought I would do my personal best at the Monaco Diamond League, and then the injury happened,” he rued.He has since managed to put the setbacks behind him. “For the Asian Games, I started training continuously from June, and I’m feeling good and confident,” he said.The first test of that confidence comes at the Indian Athletics Final Series in New Delhi on Sept 10, when Sable will make his return to competition. “I will build my confidence at the event and do better than the last Asian Games,” he said.