PALAKKAD: For K S Bijimol, there was a medal in her prayers when her son and India’s long jump star M Sreeshankar left his hometown Palakkad for Japan a month ago — but not a specific colour. She believed “Sree”, as he is fondly called by dear and near ones, would return from the Asian Games with a medal, yet her deepest wish was simpler: that he should come home without the disappointment of falling short.
On Monday, as Sreeshankar secured silver in the men’s long jump despite an ankle injury, his mother’s quiet prayer was answered. At the family home “Sree Parvathi” in Yakkara, where relatives, friends and neighbours had gathered to watch Sreeshankar compete for the top spot, the mood changed in a matter of seconds. The 27-year-old’s 8.07m effort in the second jump had raised hopes of a gold medal, with the family expecting him to come close to his recent best of 8.38m in the subsequent jumps.
Then came the fourth attempt. Sreeshankar, ranked 14th in the world, injured his ankle during the jump and was forced to pull out of his final two attempts. The excitement at home gave way to an anxious silence as the family watched on television the remaining competitors take their jumps.
“When he jumped 8.07m in his second attempt, we felt he had a good chance. We were expecting him to touch his recent personal best of 8.38m. But the happiness was short-lived when he got injured in the fourth attempt,” Bijimol told TNIE.
With his participation over, Sreeshankar, in second place when he withdrew, could only watch from the sidelines. The wait proved nerve-racking for the family and everyone else watching live, but none of the challengers could dislodge him from the ‘silver’ position. China’s Yuhao Shi, who had taken the lead after the second jump, won gold with 8.17m, while Uzbekistan’s Anvar Anvarov took bronze with 8.06m.
For Bijimol, however, the silver medal mattered less than seeing her son leave without the emotional blow of being pushed out. “For a mother of a sportsperson, winning a gold medal would be the peak of happiness. But for me, the fact that he is not coming back upset makes me happier.”
“We knew the conditions in Japan would be tough and challenging. He left a month earlier so he could acclimatise. Still, the injury pulled him down,” said his father, S Murali.
The injury has now forced Sreeshankar to put competition aside for the immediate future. According to his father, sports medicine specialist Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, who is accompanying the Indian contingent in Japan, has advised him to take complete rest for a month for his ankle to recover.
The family is hopeful that the break will allow him to return stronger to the runway, with the Asian Track and Field Championships, World Championships and the 2028 Olympics on the radar.