AFI National Throws Competition: Jeswin Aldrin Breaks National Long Jump Record With Leap of 8.42m to Claim Gold

Star long-jumper and Asian Indoor Championships silver medallist Jeswin Aldrin of Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) broke the national record with a jump of 8.42 metres to claim gold on the second day of the Indian Open Throws and Jumps Competition on Thursday.

The silver was claimed by Muhammed Yahiya from Kerala with a jump of 7.85 metres, while the bronze medal went to Rishabh Rishishwar with a jump of 7.77 metres at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS), Vijayanagar.

Praveen Chithravel of Tamil Nadu set a new meet record by covering 17.17m in the men’s triple jump en route to his gold medal at the 2nd Indian Open Jumps Competition at the Inspire Institute of Sport. Commonwealth Games gold winner Eldhose Paul (Kerala) took silver with a jump of 16.61m.

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In the men’s pole vault, Shekhar Pandey of Uttar Pradesh won the gold medal with a jump of 4.80m. Anas E B (Kerala) with 4.70m won the silver medal followed by Ajay Kumar (Haryana), who won the bronze medal with a jump of 4.70m.

Aldrin looked on song from the first jump at the state-of-the-art centre of excellence and high performance, starting with an effort of 8.05 metres followed by 8.26 metres and finally, shattered the record – previously held by Murali Sreeshankar — with a third jump of 8.42 metres.

Speaking about his achievement Aldrin said, “I wanted to break the national record last year but unfortunately it ended up being a wind-assisted jump. I am happy that I finally broke the record at my home ground -[ the Inspire Institute of Sport. I am elated that the national record is now in my name.”

Earlier in the day, in the Women’s high jump, Rubina Yadav and Abhinaya Shetty both claimed the top spot with a jump of 1.74 metres, whereas the bronze went to Niranjana Sampath from Tamil Nadu with a jump of 1.60 metres.

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In the women’s triple jump, Gayathry Sivakumar from Kerala clinched gold with a meet record of 12.98 metres. The silver went to R Punitha from Tamil Nadu with the best jump of 12.39, while IIS athlete Sharvari Parulekar clinched the bronze medal with a jump of 12.30 metres.

Kerala’s Sruthilekshmi L won the gold medal with an effort of 6.11m in the Women’s long jump event. Odisha’s Manisha Merel bagged the silver medal (5.96m) and the bronze medal went to R Punitha of Tamil Nadu (5.85m).

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)