E-Paper
Murali Sreeshankar bags historic silver in men's long jump with 8.08m attempt at CWG; Muhammed Anees Yahiya finishes 5th
Murali Sreeshankar won a silver medal in the men's long jump final, registering a best jump of 8.08m.
India's Murali Sreeshankar won the country's seventh silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, as he secured a podium finish with his best attempt of 8.08m in the men's long jump final. This was also India's first silver medal in men's long jump at the Games, and the country's second track and field medal at the ongoing games after Tejaswin Shankar opened the contingent's account in men's high jump on Thursday. Muhammed Anees Yahiya, another Indian participating in the long jump final, finished 5th with the best jump of 7.97m.
A national record holder, Sreeshankar started with his first attempt of 7.60m as he took off from a massive 31cm behind the wind; both of his next two attempts were of 7.84m before he committed a foul in his fourth.
It was his fifth attempt, however, that earned him a second-spot finish as Sreeshankar finally breached the 8m mark, registering a jump of 8.08. Bahamas' Laquan Nairn won a gold medal at the event; he had also secured the highest jump of 8.08m but secured a top podium finish due to a longer second-best jump than Sreeshankar (7.98m).
Earlier, Sreeshankar was the only jumper to finish over the automatic qualification mark in the qualifying round, when he reached the distance of 8.05m. Anees, meanwhile, had achieved the best jump of 7.68m in three attempts and finished eighth in the final qualification list.
This is Sreeshankar's first medal at the Games.
Sreeshankar has made a strong comeback since the Tokyo Olympics debacle, going over the 8m mark almost at will. He secured an 8.17m jump at the India Open Junior Competition in March earlier this year, following it with another brilliant jump of 8.09m in Federation Cup qualification. In April, he made a national record with jump of 8.36m.
The 23-year-old Kerala-born youngster, however, had arrived at the Commonwealth Games after a poor outing at the World Athletic Championships last month, where he had recorded a best attempt of 7.96m to finish seventh. Undeterred with the failure, Sreeshankar made a brilliant comeback to breach the 8m mark in his very first attempt in Birmingham and eventually secure a podium finish.
