KOCHI: For M Sreeshankar, eight is the magic number. The up and coming star of Indian athletics, who is still only 19 years of age, has his sights trained on breaking the eight-metre barrier in long jump sooner rather than later. And he very well knows there is not a better stage to achieve his goal than the one at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. The boy from Palakkad district of Kerala had come within a centimetre of touching the eight-metre mark at the 22nd Federation Cup in Patiala earlier this year, but poor health prior to the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast as well as during the 2018 IAAF World U-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland denied him chances to improve on his personal best lately.
But Sreeshankar’s father Murali S, who doubles up as his coach and inspiration, believes it is only a matter of time before his son achieves the feat. “We want to bring back a medal and the preparations have gone very smoothly so far. ‘Shanku’ has been leaping around 7.90 metres at training even with a shorter approach and is prepared for a stiff competition in Jakarta,” said Murali. Sreeshankar, then the Asian junior no 1, was touted as a medal prospect at July’s U-20 Worlds, but a long flight to Finland and an even more tiring road trip from Helsinki to Tampere less than 48 hours before the event sapped him of all his energy. Earlier, during the build-up to the CWG, he had suffered a ruptured appendix which led to him spending three days under intensive care.
“I couldn’t perform to the best of my abilities at the world championships and could only finish sixth as one of my better efforts was disqualified. But I am confident I can do eight metres and above at Jakarta and bring home a medal to make everyone proud,” says the youngster who will be up against the likes of China’s Jianan Wang whose personal best stands at an impressive 8.47m. “There will be a lot of competition especially from the Chinese athletes, but if I can focus on my own game, I will stand in good stead,” he tells Express. “Sreeshankar had lost a lot of body weight and muscle due to his illness a few months ago and we had to draw out a very careful recovery path. But now that he is back to his best, our expectations are high as always,” says Murali.
Born to former triple jumper Murali and Asian junior 800m medallist KS Bijimol, Sreeshankar took to athletics naturally at a very young age and has always exceeded expectations. He was the state 50m and 100m champion in the U-10 category and switched to long jump soon after. The athlete went on to rewrite the state records in U-12, U-16 and U-18 age levels before claiming the national junior record last March as he established himself as the leading long jump athlete in the country winning at both the Federation Cup and Inter- State Championship this year.
His stock has been rising at a meteoric pace. For comparison, current long jump national record holder Ankit Sharma had to wait until he was 22 to join the eight-metre club. At Sreeshankar’s age, the Uttar Pradesh athlete’s personal best stood at 7.74 metres — which is an even better reflection of the Kerala athlete’s prodigious talent. “Sreeshankar is a rapidly improving athlete and is a hard worker. He also has that determination to always give his best, be it during training or at the main event.
I am confident he can jump 8.10 metres and above consistently in the very near future,” says Bedros Bedrosian, India’s foreign coach for the triple and long jumps, who is guiding him ahead of the Asian Games. “He will have to keep his foot on the ground which I am sure he will and keep working. He is a smart kid and if he can bring out his best, we can expect at least a bronze medal from him.” If he indeed does so, Sreeshankar will join the elite company of Olympians TC Yohannan (1974) and Suresh Babu (1978), both from Kerala, who were the last athletes to win a medal for India in the men’s long jump event at the Asiad. adwaidh@newindianexpress.com