Injured long jumper Murali Sreeshankar to miss Paris Olympics
Sreeshankar had secured a quota for Paris after breaching the men’s long jump Olympic qualifying standard of 8.27m at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand last year.
Murali Sreeshankar qualified for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in the long jump event with a massive 8.41m leap at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at the Kalinga Stadium here on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Murali Sreeshankar achieved his personal best on his first attempt during the heats .He fell short of Jeswin’s Aldrin’s national record by 0.01m but easily breached the world championships qualifying mark of 8.25 m.
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Murali had also crossed the 8.25m mark in an athletics meet in California, the USA last month with an 8.29m effort but since his jump was wind-assisted, it did not help him make the cut for the world championships.
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Last week, Murali Sreeshankar registered an impressive 8.09m long jump to claim the third spot at the Paris Diamond League 2023.
Before that, Murali Sreeshankar won a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze label event in Kallithea, Greece with 8.18m and made the cut for the upcoming Asian Games in China. Murali is expected to join Neeraj Chopra at the Lausanne Diamond League on June 30.
Jeswin Aldrin managed a 7.83m long jump during the heats . He has already qualified for the world championships with his gold
medal-winning 8.26m leap at the National Games last year.
Overall, 12 of the 20 listed competitors in the men’s long jump qualified for the long jump final, which will be held on Monday.
The women’s long jump saw the 2022 national champion Ancy Sojan top the heats with an effort of 6.49m. Asian championships bronze medallist Nayana James came second with 6.31m followed by promising 19-year-old Shaili Singh, who hit the 6.27m mark.
The long jump finals along with other remaining summit clashes in the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2023 will
be held on Monday.
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