Sreeshankar Murali soars high to achieve World Athletics Championship qualification mark in men’s long jump

On Sunday here at the Kalinga Stadium, Sreeshankar Murali exhibited his skills on the field to soar to a distance of 8.41m in the qualification round of the 62nd National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship.

The 24-year-old Birmingham Commonwealth Games silver medalist bettered the Budapest World Athletics Championships qualification mark of 8.25m. The final is scheduled for Monday.

Sreeshankar Murali's performance on Sunday was his personal best and better than the Hangzhou Asian Games qualification criteria of 7.95m. He also improved his own meet record of 8.23m.

A specific diet plan for the past six months has been quite beneficial, says S Murali, father cum coach of long jumper Sreeshankar Murali.

“Change in eating habits have been a big advantage. He (Sreeshankar) feels more energetic on and off the field,” the father said.

According to S Murali, they have a Spanish dietitian among the coaching staff who chalks out daily food intake.

“When we are travelling for domestic or international competition we send the hotel menu to the dietitian who then recommends what to eat and how much,” the father added.

Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga stadium has been lucky for Sreeshankar. He first broke the 8m barrier at the same venue in 2018. He has the potential to further improve his performance in coming weeks.

“Our main goal is to peak for the Budapest World Athletics Championship in August,” Sreeshankar's coach said.

Tamil Nadu’s Jeswin Aldrin Tamil, another leading jumper this season, best jump in qualification was 7.83m. Jeswin's personal best recorded earlier in March was 8.42m. Both Sreeshankar and Jeswin are through to the final.

The women’s long jump qualification round was also the main attraction today. The leading jumper---Ancy Sojan (6.49m) achieved the Asian Games qualification mark of 6.45m. Nayana James (6.31m) and Shaili Singh (6.27m) were the other two leading jumpers in the field who have qualified for the final.

Away from the jumping arena, the men's javelin throw qualification round saw a good performance by Odisha’s Kishore Kumar Jena. His best throw of 79.96m was better than the Asian Games qualification mark of 78.23m.

Shivpal Singh (79.35m) and Anuj Kalera (79.04m) were other two throwers whose preliminary round performance was inside the Asian Games qualification round.

Rohit Yadav (76.32m) and Manu DP (76.21m), the two main contenders for the podium were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the qualification round and advanced to the final.

The men’s 1500m opening heat witnessed four runners including Ajay Kumar Saroj (3:44.13 secs), Yoonus Shah (3:44.22 secs) and Sachelal Patel (3:44.33 secs) dip inside the Asian Games qualification time of 3:47.84 seconds.

Olympian and national record holder Jinson Johnson clocked 3:48.83 secs in the third heat to advance to the final.

Monday is the last day of the competition.