Indian long jump stars M Sreeshankar and Lokesh Sathyanathan have successfully secured their places in the highly anticipated Commonwealth Games men's long jump final, showcasing strong performances despite challenging conditions.
Key Points
- M Sreeshankar directly qualified for the men's long jump final at the Commonwealth Games with an 8.01m jump.
- Lokesh Sathyanathan also advanced to the final based on his top-12 performance, achieving 7.77m.
- Sreeshankar, a silver medallist in the previous Games, is on a comeback trail after a career-threatening knee injury.
- The Indian athletes will compete in the long jump finals scheduled for Wednesday.
M Sreeshankar qualified for the men's long jump final by breaching the automatic qualifying standard, while Lokesh Sathyanathan advanced on the basis of his top-12 finish at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Monday.
Sreeshankar, whose season's best is 8.38 metres, jumped 8.01m here to earn direct qualification from Group A. The qualification standard has been set at 8m or at least the 12 best performers.
Sreeshankar's Direct Qualification And Comeback Journey
The 27-year-old was the only athlete to earn direct qualification from Group A, while five others made the finals as top-12 best performers.
Sreeshankar, who is hoping to improve on the silver medal that he won in the 2022 edition of the Games, said the conditions were tough.
"Qualification went quite well, it was tricky conditions for everyone. It was cold and windy and it was raining also in between but I qualified in the first attempt, so very excited for the final," Sreeshankar said.
He is on a comeback trail after recovering a career-threatening knee injury -- a ruptured patellar tendon -- in April 2024, for which he underwent a surgery.
The breakdown had robbed him of a highly anticipated maiden appearance at the Paris Olympics. He recorded his season's best performance only last month in the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar.
Sathyanathan Joins Sreeshankar in the Final
Competing in Group B, Sathyanathan managed a jump of 7.77m in his first attempt. He finished fourth in Group B behind Regan Corrin (7.84m).
Jamaica's Tajay Gayle earned direct qualification with a jump of 8.10m along with Uroy Ryan (8.04m).
The finals will be held on Wednesday.
