Post silver and Olympic spot, Murali Sreeshankar sets eyes on bigger targets

On Saturday, hot and humid conditions did not deter him from clearing that distance for silver at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok.

Indian athlete/long jumper Murali Sreeshankar (Photo | AFP)

CHENNAI: There was nothing lacking in his approach, training and attitude. Yet he was not able to cross that 8.36m, his previous personal best before 8.41m this year, at international competitions. It was more mental than physical, perhaps. He came close last year in Greece when he managed 8.31m but somehow he was not able to go beyond his best effort.

The story can change this time though. The way Murali Sreeshankar celebrated with clenched fists and a loud yell showed how relieved he was. Always under pressure to perform abroad, this effort would definitely help him soothe those nerves. And the most heartening thing for him and his father and coach Murali is that he qualified for the Paris Olympics next year (qualifying mark is 8.27m and the cycle started on July 1).

On Saturday, hot and humid conditions did not deter him from clearing that distance for silver at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok. The colour of the medal is not something that is bothering him. He is happy with the distance, the furthest any Indian long-jumper has managed on foreign soil. “It gives confidence when you jump such a distance,” he said during an interaction.

“My body is more used to hot and humid climate. It could be because I was born and brought up in Palakkad, where the conditions are similar to Bangkok.” From his formative years, he has been training in Palakkad. At the Lausanne Diamond League, he struggled because of cold and windy conditions and could not cross 8m on that night. Otherwise, this season alone he has crossed the 8m-mark more than 20 times.

The 24-year-old thought he could have won gold in Bangkok but Chinese Taipei's Yu Tang Lin jumped 8.40m to win the gold. “In cold places like Lausanne I had to spend more energy to warm up but in Bangkok-like conditions, I need less time and I can preserve my energy,” said the Paris DL third finisher. He added that because of this perhaps clearing 8.37m was not a problem. “In fact, I thought I would have crossed 8.45m.”

With Olympics qualification over for Sreeshankar, with more than a year left, his team will now focus on his training and preparation from now. “Really relieved and happy that he qualified for the Olympics now,” said Murali. “Instead of thinking about qualification, we can now prepare our training and competition programme for the Olympics well in advance. We can start our season a bit late also.” 

Like all coaches, Murali felt his son could have done better. “He was jumping behind the board and could have done better than 8.37m,” he said.

The father and son duo was at Magglingen in Switzerland before travelling to Bangkok. “The facilities were fantastic and our training there was very good,” said the coach. Sreeshankar is planning to go back to Palakkad and take a couple of days break to recover and then start training for the Worlds. It will be a long season for Sreeshankar who has already competed in some six competitions.

Gold in mixed relay

An event India has been dominating in Asia is the mixed relay. The team of Amoj Jacob, Rajesh Ramesh, Aishwarya Mishra and Subha V created a national record when they managed to clock 3:14.70s. During the interaction, Jacob said that they were confident of creating the national record. “We were a bit concerned about the Japanese team,” he said. The team now is looking forward to the Worlds next month and then the Asian Games in September-October.

In the men’s high jump, Sarvesh Anil Kushare managed silver while Asian Games gold medallist Swapna Barman (5840) too won silver in the heptathlon finishing behind Ekaterina Veronina of Uzbekistan. Santhosh Kumar won India’s only bronze on Saturday in the 400m hurdles. Burman, who has been struggling with injuries of late, has set her sights on the Asian Games next.

Santhosh also bettered his personal best of 49.49s by finishing the race in 49.09s. Mohammed Hemeida Bassem (48.64 seconds) of Qatar and Yusaku Kodama (48.96) of Japan won gold and silver. As of now, India’s medal tally reads: 6 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze.