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Two promising athletes - triple jumper Praveen Chithravel and Jeswin Aldrin in long jump face an uphill task as the duo have to prove their fitness ahead of the Budapest World Athletics Championships starting August 19 in Hungary.
After a good start to the season, both Chithravel and Aldrin scaled new heights in their respective events and were considered having potential to further raise the bar during the global competition next month in Hungary.
But with less than a month to go before Hungary, Chithravel and Aldrin look doubtful due to a slump in their performance.
Aldrin and Chithravel weren’t available for their comments to throw light on their targets they have set for the major competitions of the year.
Sanjay Garnaik, a senior athletics coach, said a slump in performance could be due to several reasons:
“One of them could be due to peaking too early in the season. Depending on the main goal of the season, it could be a challenging task to repeat the same performance with less than a month to go for a major competition of the year."
The 21-year-old Aldrin made a big impression during a domestic competition in March by recording an 8.42m jump. He was then considered having potential to excel at the major international events. But after March, Aldrin’s performance graph declined due to an injury.
He failed to come close to his personal best of 8.42m in the domestic as well as international meetings he competed in from May to June. His best jump during the June 15 to 19 Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha was 7.98m.
Aldrin skipped the July 12 to 16 Asian Athletics Championships held in Bangkok due to an injury.
“He has to prove his fitness to compete in the global competition,” a senior national athletics coach told Sportskeeda.
Chithravel, 22, too started his 2023 season on a promising note. In May, he improved the national record to 17.37m during a competition in Cuba. Chithravel also skipped the Asian Championships in Bangkok, saying he was on the injured list.
Chithravel recovered and competed at the Monaco Diamond League last week. He finished sixth with a jump of 16.59m.
“Both Chithravel and Aldrin are currently in Europe. The young athletes will have to showcase their fitness before the July 30, 2023 deadline to send the final entries for the World Athletics Championships,” an athletics coach familiar with the development said.
