National record holder Sreeshankar lays down the gauntlet with eight-metre jump in qualifiers

Express News Service

KOCHI: Is the 8m mark the new normal for the country’s top long jumpers? Led by national record holder Murali Sreeshankar, three jumpers have managed to breach the mark already this season as there was a lot of focus on the event in the 25th Federation Cup Seniors Athletics Championship which got underway at the Calicut University Stadium on Saturday.

While Sreeshankar produced a jump of 8.09m in qualification, Jeswin nearly touched the 8m mark with a jump of 7.94m to set up an exciting showdown in the final. Meanwhile, Muhammed Anees Yahiya, who is the third jumper to breach the 8m barrier this season at the Indian Open Jumps competition, mustered a jump of 7.62m here. David P of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh’s Yugant Singh had finished third and fourth, respectively ahead of Anees with the final set to be held on Sunday. 

“Since it was the qualifiers, the first target was not to overexert and get into the final. Of course, the likes of Sreeshankar and Jeswin have done well but I think all of us will be saving the best for the final. I wouldn’t say that I am a hundred percent fitness-wise, but I will give my best. I wanted to avoid unnecessary risks or injuries and with the first target met, I will focus on trying to give it my all now. The final should be a very competitive affair and I feel all of us would be highly motivated to try and get past the 8m mark. We will push each other to do better and I’m really looking forward to the final,” said Anas.

In the 400m women’s run, Maharashtra’s Aishwarya Mishra produced an impressive show and rewrote her own personal best in the heats with a timing of 52.41s while Poovamma Raju had the second-best timing with 53.83s. With the likes of Priya Mohan and Vismaya VK being absent, the focus was on the likes of Poovamma and Jisna Mathew. The Kerala sprinter had a time of 55.58s but it was Aishwarya who impressed the most.

As for the men’s 400m run, it was Amoj Jacob who produced the best time of 46.59s with Muhammed Ajmal of Kerala giving him a close fight by finishing second in the second semifinal with a performance of 46.88s.Tamil Nadu’s Rajesh Ramesh had impressed in the first semifinal with a time of 46.65s. In the third semifinal of the 400m men’s run, Noah Nirmal Tom finished first with a time of 47.00s while Arokia Rajiv (47.32s) came in third. 

In the 100m women’s run, national record holder Dutee Chand topped the heats with a time of 11.51s while Jilna MV of Kerala posted impressive timings of 11.63s as well.The finals of three events were held on Saturday. Kartik Kumar won the men’s 10000m run while Sanjivani Jadhav came out on top in the women’s 10000 event. In the women’s pole vault final, Rosy Paulraj produced a jump of 4m to win gold.