Star long jumper Murali Sreeshankar made a stupendous return to competition after recovering from a knee surgery in April last year as he leaped 8.05m to win the title at the Indian Open Athletics Meet in Pune on Saturday.
Sreeshankar had injured his left knee while training in Palakkad in April last year and underwent a surgery in Doha the same month. It ruled him out of the Paris Olympics in July-August despite qualifying for the Games.
At the Savitribai Phule Pune University Sports Complex long jump pit, the 26-year-old Sreeshankar, who was representing JSW, dominated the 14-man field to stamp his class and run away with the title. He has a personal best of 8.41m which he he recorded in 2023.
In fact, Sreeshankar was participating in an event after more than 21 months as his last competition was in the Hangzhou Asian Games in October 2023, where he had won a silver with an effort of 8.19m.
He began with a creditable 7.84m, while his next two attempts measured 7.99m and 7.84m before coming up with 8.05m in the fourth jump. He did not take the fifth jump and ended with 7.84m in his last attempt.
Sarun Paya Singh of Odisha was second with 7.68m while Amal TP of Kerala was third with 7.45m.
Sreeshankar, also a silver medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, still has time to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo in September for which the direct qualifying distance is 8.27m.
His 8.05m effort on Saturday was the season lead for an Indian ahead of the 7.94m of David Solomon at the Federation Cup in Kochi in April.
Sreeshankar will be heading for competitions in Europe and Central Asia (Portugal, Spain and Kazakhstan) from July 19 till August 14 for which the government has approved Rs 5.58 lakh.
In 2023, the Kerala athlete had become only the third Indian to finish in the top three in a Diamond League Meeting -- after Vikas Gowda and Neeraj Chopra -- with a third-place finish in Paris DL, but his Olympics hopes went up in smoke after the injury early in the 2024 season.
In men's javelin throw, Indian Army's Shivam Lohakare became the latest entrant in the 80m club with a personal best effort of 80.95m to take the top spot.
Maharashtra's Harsh Raut emerged as the fastest man of the meet, clocking 10.38 seconds in the men's 100m event. In the women's category, Sakshi Chavan of Reliance Sports Foundation secured the top spot with a time of 11.81 seconds.
Other top athletes who won titles were Asian Championships silver medallist Sarvesh Anil Kushare (men's high jump; 2.20m) of Maharashtra, Aishwarya Mishra (women's 400m; 54.25 seconds), also of Maharashtra, and Vishal TK (men's 400m; 46.02 seconds), representing NCOE Trivandrum.
