Sreeshankar: Murali Sreeshankar made history in long jump! | leader

Paris; News Agency: Indian long jumper Murali Sreesankar made a historic performance in the Paris Diamond League on Friday. He jumped 8.09 meters to finish third in this prestigious event. Commonwealth Games silver medalist Sreesankar scored the best jump of the day in his third attempt on Friday night. Srishankar has become the third Indian to finish in the top-3 in the Diamond League. Earlier only Tokyo Olympics gold medalist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and discus thrower Vikas Gowda could achieve this feat. (Sreeshankar)

Olympic champion and world ranked M. of Greece. Tantoglu (8.13m) won first place. World Championship bronze medalist Simon Ehmer of Switzerland (8.11m) finished second. Murali Sreesankar had reached the top position after the third round, but later slipped to the third position. There is talk that the strong headwind blowing from the opposite direction during the tournament affected Sreesankar’s performance. (Sreeshankar)

Srishankar participated in the Diamond League tournament for the second time. He previously finished sixth in Monaco last year. This brilliant performance earned Sreesankar six qualification points for the Diamond League Finals to be held in Eugene, USA in September. Along with this, he also accumulated important points to qualify for the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August.

Sreesankar, who hails from Kerala, won a silver medal in the long jump at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. With this, he became the second Indian male athlete to win a medal in long jump in the Commonwealth Games. Earlier in 1978, India won its first medal in Commonwealth long jump. At that time, Suresh Babu won the bronze medal with a brilliant performance.

Neeraj Chopra withdraws due to injury

The 24-year-old Sreesankar’s career best jump is 8.36m, which he failed to clear. Now he will return to India for the inter-state meet at Bhubaneswar. Sreesankar was the only player to represent India in the Paris Diamond League. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra withdrew his name from the tournament due to injury.

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