Long jumper Murali wins ticket to Budapest World Athletics Championship

Bhubaneswar: Indian long jumper and Commonwealth Games medalist Murali Sreeshankar stole the show on the penultimate day of the 62nd National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship and qualified for the Budapest World Athletics Championship, here on Sunday.

In his opening preliminary round jump, Kerala's 24 years international athlete recorded 8.41m jump to better Budapest World Athletics Championship and Hangzhou Asian Games qualification marks. He also improved his own meet record of 8.23m.

Bhubaneswar's Kalinga stadium has been lucky for Sreeshankar. He first broke the 8m barrier at the same venue in 2018.

His father-cum-coach S Murali was hopeful his son would further improve the mark in the medal round on Monday. "He could do better in the final," Sreeshankar's father said.

While the World Championship qualification mark was 8.25m, the Athletics Federation of India qualification criteria set for Asian Games was 7.95m.

Tamil Nadu's Jeswin Aldrin, another leading jumper this season, best jump in qualification was 7.83m. Jeswin's personal best recorded earlier in March was 8.42m.

Muhammed Anees Yahiya of Kerala (7.71m) is also among 12 athletes in the final. The men's long jump final is expected to be a major attraction on Monday.