RANCHI: Until Day four of the National Senior Athletics Federation competition at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium, triple jump national record holder Praveen Chithravel had breached the 17m-mark only once in the past year (17.37m, Fed Competition 2025).
His best attempt before Monday was in the Indian Open athletics series-6 in Chennai on May 15 where he recorded 16.95m. Ahead of the men's final, Yoandri Betanzos, two-time worlds medallist, said that his ward has been working hard to be fit for Sunday’s showdown. “In the off-season, the training has been very good. I hope to see it all coming because he has to qualify to both Commonwealth Games here and the Asian Games in June’s Senior Inter-state meet in Bhubaneswar. So, now he has to jump more than 17.20 metres here,” he had told this daily on Saturday. "With these conditions in mind, I expect 17.6m. He has been improving by leaps and bounds in the tests I have and he is coming in with full confidence," he said before Chithravel’s jump.
And on Monday, Chithravel breached the 17-metre mark in his second attempt. With a strong run-up and slightly uncertain hop before the leap, the Tamil Nadu jumper recorded a 17.08m jump, breaching the qualification mark for the CWG in Glasgow in July.
However, the bigger challenge remains ahead later this year. Chithravel would hope to take a position in the podium at the CWG, (he missed out on one in 2022) and improve his performance in the Asian Games. “Physically and technical wise, he is good. It is in the psychological aspects where we are trying to work on. In last year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, a jump of his would have earned qualification but it was called foul. But after that, he didn’t know how to manage. For example, after his second jump which was a foul, he didn’t run properly. 17.04, 17.06 would have been good for him," his coach said.
Another key aspect that the duo would hope to work on is the time taken for recovery. While Betanzos would wish to work on more techniques, he also acknowledges that pain is normal. “After last year’s Federation competition, he had ankle pain. There was no possibility of a proper training session because of it. Three months after that leap, we worked only with two techniques. After a competition, he wants to take around a month’s time to recover, which makes his recovery period long. So we are working on that too," he said.
With the talent Chithravel possesses, Monday’s performance would elicit hope for him to jump to his full potential.
Samardeep qualifies for CWG
The men's 200m final, contrary to the high expectations, ended with no record-breaking feat with Animesh Kujur running three tenths slower (20.64 seconds) than his national record on Monday, missing the CWG qualification. In another disappointment, none of the javelin throwers managed to breach the CWG mark (82.61m). Maharashtra's rising talent Shivam Lohakare finished first with 81.71m. Sachin Yadav, who threw a personal best of 86.27m at the Tokyo Worlds last year, failed to throw anywhere past the 80-metre mark. Meanwhile, shot-putter Samardeep Singh Gill breached the qualification for the CWG (20.36m), with a gold-medal winning mark of 20.46m. In a photo-finish, Karnataka's Yashas P (49.00s) and Santosh Kumar P (49.06s) of NCOE Trivandrum finished first and second in the men's 400m hurdles final as they bettered the qualification mark for the Commonwealth Games (50.27s).