Murali Sreeshankar: 'Long jump standard will keep going up in India'

Time of India

a day ago

Murali Sreeshankar
Bhubaneswar:
Murali Sreeshankar
couldn't have been prouder of Shahnavaz Khan after the youngster gave him a run for his money with a huge leap of 8.04m during the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze level meet at the Kalinga Stadium here on Sunday.
'He is only 18 years old, and he has a long way to go. We train together in Trivandrum, and we push each other and fight with each other. We have a good rapport, and this shows that the long jump standard in India will just keep going up,' said Sreeshankar, who only in his last attempt made the jump of 8.13m to win his fourth consecutive title.
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On a comeback trail after missing the entire last year following a surgery in April, the 26-year-old is now looking forward to just resting ahead of the inter-state meet later this month.
'My body is completely broken after the long travel and continuous back-to-back competitions. I'm not used to doing it for the past one year so I'm slowly getting back to that rhythm and the past two weeks have been really hectic for me,' added the Asian Games silver medallist.
'This is the third country I have been in over the past 10 days. So, I just need to get some rest and refocus and get ready for the big one at inter-state.'
Hopefully, in Chennai, he will be in good form to hit the 8.27m which is the qualifying mark for the Worlds event. He might have achieved it on Sunday evening itself had two of his jumps not been called foul.
Nonetheless he was pleased with the consistency. 'I made three successive jumps of more than 7.90m and it might be all Bhubaneswar magic because whenever I come here, I do good,' said Sreeshankar, who also achieved his PB of 8.41m at the Odisha capital two years back.
However, all this wasn't easy at all for him. 'It was pretty tough for me because I was not getting the rhythm which might be due to the long travel and the jet lag and everything,' he added.
While his recent jumps make it hard to believe, he is making a comeback from a career-threatening injury, and it's only been a few months since he started his jumps training.
'I've started jumps probably like two or three months back. In spikes, I've altogether jumped probably like eight or nine times before starting my season.
And obviously when you're coming back after a career threatening injury that mental factor and apprehension will be there,' said the seasoned athlete.
The good thing is this is not the first time he is making a comeback. He missed the 2018 Commonwealth Games because he was diagnosed with appendicitis and needed to undergo emergency surgery. Later, he made a comeback and won the silver at the 2022 CWG.
And this time, too, he is confident of making it big in the coming days.
'You need to be really strong up here no matter what the situation is to get past it. I'm one such guy who just takes the best out of every situation and keeps moving forward no matter what's happening around me,' said the man on a mission.
Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!